Spark of Madcraft
by bubbajack
Summary: Before the 5th Grail War, Shirou didn't know a lot of things, he didn't know his past, who his family was, or why he constantly suffered from migraines'. During the Grail War he finds the answers to all of these questions and then some...post-5th Heaven's Feel, he knows anything can be accomplished with a bit of magecraft, a bit of science, and a whole lot of madness on ones side.
1. Chapter 1

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN or Girl Genius.**

* * *

_"__There is a fine between genius and insanity. I have erased this line"_\- Oscar Levant

**Ch.1: Shirou's Angels...**

The year was 2000 and all was quiet on the streets of Fuyuki City, which wasn't surprising considering it was three in the morning at the moment. All the lights in the houses were out and everyone was asleep…well, almost everyone. In a small shed in a rather large Japanese-style estate, a young fit man of seventeen with red hair and golden-brown eyes wearing a white long-sleeved shirt with blue sleeves and jeans as he sat on the floor and tried to fix an engine while ignoring a mounting pain in his skull. To help ease the pain, the boy pulled out a locket that hung around his neck beneath his clothes and opened it.

For as long as Shirou Emiya could remember, he'd had three things migraines, the golden locket which currently hung around his neck, and an odd piece of art that consisted of a piece of clay that had the shard of a mirror attached to it that was found in his pocket at the hospital, which he'd kept as a memento of sorts. Inside the locket was the picture of a white haired man and a blonde haired bespectacled woman and in between them a younger version of himself probably four or five smiling happily. This picture filled him with a foreign sense of nostalgia but also, a sense of dread and self-loathing. Dread, because no matter how hard old man Kiritsugu looked he couldn't find hide nor hair of his parents bodies, and self-loathing because Shirou knew just as he'd walked over the corpses of the dying and the damned to survived that terrible fire years ago he'd probably abandoned his parents to die…just so he could save himself.

Closing the locket, he shook away those thoughts, which didn't really help his aching head. He sure wished the doctor the old man took him to see all those years ago could've found out what the problem was, but it wasn't all bad, he'd made some great friends that day…

* * *

_It took them nearly a week to get there as they traveled by car, and when asked why they couldn't just purchase plane tickets, Shirou was told that it was too risky for his father to travel like that. So they drove and by the time they got to Misaki City Shirou was just about bored out of his mind. For roughly the twentieth time the eight year old groaned out "Old man, are we there yet?"_

_"__Almost son in fact if you look out your window, you should be able to see it about now." Kiritsugu replied as he drove a nondescript black car down a winding mountain road._

_Looking out his window he saw nothing but trees for a moment, then they turned around the bend and he got his first glimpse of Misaki City. It was a sprawling city filled with tightly compact streets and back alleys there were two large looking mansions each situated on a hill and each one was on the opposite side of town. One looked traditional while the other looked like it was somehow transported here from the west. Shirou counted no less than three schools, from his current vantage point, one of which was right below them at the moment and he couldn't help but wonder why this place had so many._

_Turning back around in his seat I said "This place looks overly crowded I kinda wish we were back home already."_

_Kiritsugu chuckled and replied "You never know son you might just find something to like about this place if you give it a chance."_

_"__Maybe." I replied in an unenthusiastic tone._

_I was happy to find Misaki wasn't as crowded as it looked from above on the mountain trail. It still wasn't as nice as home which had the Mion River separating the residential and the working areas of the city, making it seem smaller than it really was. Still, it was new, and I was curious and wanted to explore my new surroundings._

_As they parked in front of what looked to be an old fashioned medical clinic I asked "This the place?"_

_"__Yes, an old acquaintance from my old job Jinan Sougen works here and, for a fee, he should be able to give us the answers we seek."_

_I looked at the seemingly simple looking oriental medical office and then back at the old man before saying "If you say so Old Man, after we're done here can we explore the town a bit?" I asked hopefully._

_Getting out of the car and making his way to the front door the former magus killer said "Maybe." Before opening it and heading inside, I quickly followed, eager to get this over with._

_The pair found themselves in a simple waiting room lined with chairs and a shut wooden door on the other side of the room. Kiritsugu motioned for me to go take a seat while he himself made his way towards the front desk and let Jinan know they were here. I watched him step up to the front desk, heard wring the small bell, a voice respond "I'll be with you in a sec!"_

_Moments later a man of Chinese descent wearing a simple blue kimono and obi and sporting an English-style mustache that had turned grey along with the top half of his head which was slicked back leaving only the hair on the sides of his head and his sideburns untouched by time. _

_I saw what I who I assumed was Jinan's, eyes widened in shock as he took in the Old Man's worn, grizzled, and tired appearance. I didn't blame him, the old man was unnaturally pale, his eyes were ringed black and sunken into his skull, and his face was gaunt. He looked more like a walking corpse than a person. I saw him quickly looking over my way probably to make sure I was out of earshot, before he chewed him out. Sure enough, Jinan-sans face became hard and concerned. I couldn't hear what the two were saying of course but it was clear something was wrong with the Old Man then again anyone with eyes could see he wasn't healthy._

_Jinan narrowed his light green eyes and stared at dad for a moment longer before he said something while motioning towards me with an arm. Kiritsugu gave a shrill whistle 'getting my attention' before motioning for me to follow as he headed towards the back where Jinan had already left to prepare the room for the tests I would have to take. As we walked down the hall I asked "So are you going to come in there with me?"_

_The withered old man shook his head._

_He must have sensed I was nervous, because he smiled down at me reassuringly and replied "Nothing dangerous Shirou Jinan is just going to ask you some questions and then do a physical I can't be in there because-"the old man hesitated he doesn't do that-" Because of Doctor Patient confidentiality. Yes, anything you say has to be in-between just you and him."_

_The red head nodded seeming put at ease as they stopped outside a room with a brass number twelve on it and Kiritsugu knocked making sure Jinan had all preparations in place before I entered._

_"__Send him in!" Jinan's slightly muffled voice called._

_Kiritsugu then looked at Shirou and motioned for him to enter the room, seeing the boy's hesitance at entering the room with a complete stranger he said "You have to go in there alone son…" _

_Still seeing I was nervous he added "Don't worry, I'll be waiting right out here."_

_Shirou swallowed, showing the first physical sign of fear in all the time the elder Emiya had known him before he put on a brave face and nodded before putting his hand on the simple brass knob and turned it before entering the room._

_The room smelt strongly of sage which was being burned in incense holders, and the room was cast in shadow as the only source of light came from five bunches of seven candles four of which were placed at the four corners of the room as the last sat in the middle of the table where a grey haired old man whom Shirou assumed was Jinan Sougen-san sat eying him curiously._

_The two stared at one another silently for a moment and then finally Jinan motioned the boy to come forward and sit. Upon making himself comfortable on the pillow across from the doctor the man spoke in a kind if mysterious tone of voice "Are you ready to begin Shirou-chan?"_

_I scowled and replied "I'm a boy, not a girl."_

_Jinan raised a finger and replied "Ah, but you are young quite young still. However I meant no offense Shirou-kun."_

_I didn't mean to make the old man feel bad, so I shook my head and replied "Don't worry about it old man, let's just get these tests over with."_

_"__Alright. I'm sure you're eager to learn what's causing these headaches aren't you?" He then reached down beneath the table and pulled out a small bag before emptying its contents on the table top. Resting on the tabletop now were several items: A piece of obsidian, a small piece of dry ice, a shoot of bamboo, a piece of iron, some coal, and a glass sphere that seemed to have some kind of swirling smoky substance confined within._

_Dr. Sougen then cleared his throat to get the boy's attention and said "Now Shirou, this is what I want you to do. I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind before reaching out and picking up however many of these items you feel belong to you."_

_'__Belong to me, but how will I know if any of these items belong to me?' he thought before asking the doctor as much._

_"__Don't think, just act." The Doctor advised._

_Shirou slowly nodded before closing his eyes and breathing in and out for several minutes. After a time he felt a sort of mental tugging in two separate directions and so, reached out without opening his eyes and placed a hand over them both before opening his eyes to find he had placed a hand over both the glass sphere and the knot of iron respectively. Yet when he looked closer at the vapors contained within the ball, he found little streaks of light flashed when he laid his hand to rest._

_He looked at the doctor curiously to see the man rubbing his chin and muttering "I see well, that's…different."_

_"__What is it?" Shirou asked._

_"__Well, in Chinese medicine certain bodily functions and organs are connected to certain elements. You have a duel element which is uncommon in and of itself but the combination is especially odd as the two elements directly oppose each other. You my young friend possess both the sub elements of lightning and metal."_

_Shirou frowned and asked "What does this have to do with my headaches?"_

_Sougen hummed in thought before he replied "Having to opposing elements specifically those elements could lead to all kinds of problems…have you had any breathing problems? Like Asthma, shortness of breath, tiredness?"_

_I shook my head no, only for the doctor to twiddle his mustache in thought for a bit before he nodded only to say "Ok how about pain have you felt pain like a hot iron being struck into your back?"_

_Again I shook my head no._

_Reaching under the table again, he produced a deck of cards which he proceeded to spread out all around the table. There were seventy-two in all with all of them face down. Before he addressed me. "Now Shirou-kun, I'll be asking you some questions and for every answer, I'll be removing some of these cards until only one remains. This card will represent you. Are you ready?"_

_"__How will this help determine what causing my headaches?" I asked again._

_"__I'm trying to determine your personality to determine your stress level." The Doctor replied "Now are you ready?"_

_Seeing the boy nod Sougen asked the first in a long line of questions "You see a book left unattended what do you do?"_

* * *

_It took roughly an hour, and several questions that made me question many a thing about myself, but finally they were down to one remaining card. I looked at it, hesitant to know what this card could say about me. I was startled by the sound of Sougen's voice saying "Are you afraid?"_

_"__Of course I am, knowing this could change everything about me who wouldn't be afraid?" the boy replied honestly._

_The Chinese man merely nodded and replied "An honest answer, but if you do not continue you might never find out the reason for your headaches."_

_Taking a deep breath, Shirou reached over and flipped over the card. Upon its face was a young goofy looking man with a staff in hand seeming walking obliviously off a cliff, with a pack on his back and he had the sun at his back. Underneath the picture written on a scrawling ribbon was the title: 0/XXII the Fool._

_"__So I'm some kind of reckless idiot or something?! What's next, I'll start spouting nonsense like people die when they are killed or something like it wasn't obvious?" Shirou said frustrated, causing pain to lance through his head._

_Sougen picked up the card and examined it before chuckling slightly and saying "You shouldn't take the card's name at face value Shirou. No picking the Fool does not make you an idiot, quite the opposite in fact."_

_"__Ok I'll bite how?"_

_Chuckling again Sougen explained "The Fool represents one who is on a journey for knowledge, one who sees things differently and has mad wisdom."_

_Seeing the boy's confused look Sougen explained "Ever hear the term crazy like a fox? Well the Fool can become anything he wishes as he is in a sense both the beginning and the end. Not like God but he has…freedom of choice and wherever the fool treads chaos is sure to follow in his wake."_

_Shirou nodded "I get it, so the Fool represents my thirst for knowledge, my creativity, and the unintentional chaotic organization of my things. But what does this have to do with my headaches?" I remember starting to feel like a broken record at this point._

_Sougen looked away from me and muttered to himself "Hmm, what could this mean? A boy with an affinity for both metal and lighting with the primordial waters as his beginning- he then seemed to remember that I was there and started before saying- "Oh, well I'm not quite sure Shirou-kun. Let me go talk to your father for a moment and once he gives me permission to do the physical we'll continue. Alright?"_

_As he muttered to himself I thought 'Something is going on here, why would sensei need permission to do a physical when that's why the old man brought me here in the first place, right? So what has he been doing all this time?'_

* * *

_The Old Man made Sougen-sensei sign something promising not to release any of this information on pain of death in order for him to finally feel safe enough to agree to a full examination on me. All I found out other than the fact that I had an abnormally high pain tolerance, was that I was a perfectly healthy eight year old boy. But then Sougen-sensei put his hand on my wrist for a moment double checking my pulse he said when a look of surprise came over the old man's face and he stopped blinked and then checked again before he said "Kiritsugu, do you think instead of payment your boy can make a delivery or two around town for me?"_

_The Magus Killer said nothing staring at the doctor for a moment before he nodded, causing Sougen to smile and say "Great, these old bones of mine aren't what they used to be and to make two separate trips on either side of town really does a number on me anymore. Wait right here and I'll get the items that need to be delivered as well as the addresses."_

_I may have only been eight, but I got the distinct impression something was going on and they didn't want me to know what it was…_

* * *

Shirou was pulled out of his musings by the feeling of his cellphone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out and looked at the caller id only to raise an eyebrow and think _'What could nee-chan be calling for?'_ before he answered with a curious cautious "Hello?"

"…" The line was silent for a moment until a cool nearly monotone voice replied "Hello Shirou-kun. I did not expect you to be up this late."

There was a hint of scolding in that last sentence and Shirou knew it, and laughing awkwardly he replied "Migraine Nee-chan."

"Ah, I'm sorry to hear that, and I hope you get better soon but I have news that concerns you." She replied.

"You and Nii-san are finally going out?" Shirou speculated, knowing that the fact that those two liked each other was the worst kept secret in Misaki.

"…"

Shirou could practically feel the seething anger in the silence on the other end of the line. Swallowing he said meekly "Sorry Nee-chan, that crossed a line."

A sigh in the form of static came across the phone "Its fine Shirou-kun, and no, we're not dating. But that's not why I called…A certain mutual friend of ours is coming to visit you in a couple days…"

That was the last thing the red-headed teenager was expecting to hear. Taking a deep calming breath he asked "Is she now?"

He could hear the smirk in the older woman's voice as she replied "Oh yes, and she's looking forward to seeing you too. She's just dying for your cooking again, and to be honest, if I was capable of travel, I'd come myself."

Shirou frowned and said "You know you could come down here for a bit Nee-chan or I could go up there-"

He was cut off by Nee-chan saying "No, no I'm too accustomed to life at home, besides I'd hate to intrude on your _alone time_ together."

Shirou could hear the mocking in her monotone and so he deadpanned "Thanks Nee-chan, anything else I need to know?"

"Yes, get some sleep so I don't have to stay up all night worrying about you." She gently chastised.

Suppressing a yawn Shirou replied "Yes Nee-chan, good night."

"Good night Shirou-kun, and good luck." She replied before she hung up.

_'__I have a feeling I'm going to need it, with her of all people coming by in a couple of days.'_ Shirou thought to himself semi-bitterly before decided to close his eyes and try to get at least a **_few_** hours' sleep before he had to make his daily sacrifice to the bottomless pit that was Fuji-nee's stomach.

* * *

The sound of gentle if incessant knocking awoke Shirou from his too few hours of slumber. He took a moment to stretch and yawn before he called in a tired voice "Yes Sakura?"

"Good morning Sempai, I've already got breakfast started so after you've freshened up a bit feel free to take a seat at the table ok?"

Before Shirou could object to one of his guests making him breakfast he heard her walking away and merely sighed to himself and went to a drawer where he kept spare outfits. Changing into his school uniform, Shirou made his way into the house. Upon arriving in the living room which also housed the dining table he was greeted by a loud shout of "SHIROU~! WHY ARE YOU TAKING ADVANTAGE OF SAKURA'S KINDNESS?!"

"Good morning to you too Fuji-nee." Shirou replied dryly as he sat down to breakfast.

Taiga Fugimura may not have been the best guardian to one Shirou Emiya seeing as he was the one who did all the cooking and the cleaning around his own home and how some might think that an English teacher leeching off her student might be unseemly. But she knew Shirou well enough to know he enjoyed doing those things, and she also knew him well enough to know when he'd had a rough night. This is why her gaze immediately softened and she asked concernedly "Shirou, are you feeling ok today?"

Blankly staring at the food Sakura had just placed in front of him he merely nodded, muttering "Yeah I'm fine Fuji-nee. I just had one of my headaches last night. Sorry you had to trouble yourself by making breakfast Sakura. Itadakimatsu!"

Shirou then began to eat only to stop when he noticed the Tiger of Fuyuki of all people was staring at him worriedly instead of stuffing her face like she usually did. Sighing Shirou put down his chopsticks and asked "What's wrong Fuji-nee?"

"How bad was you headache-"and Sakura added "And how late were you up last night Sempai?"

Taiga nodded "That too."

The third rate magus tried to keep his face stoic but seeing the concerned looks on both their faces quickly made him cave. Rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration he replied "I was up till a little past three in the morning, and the headache was bad enough to keep me awake."

"You're staying home today." Taiga said imperiously and with all the authority of the yazuka princess she was.

"I can't afford to Fuji-nee, I'm barely holding a C average as it is, you know that." Shirou then gave her a comforting smile and said "Don't worry, I'll be fine."

* * *

_'__I really should've stayed home today!'_ Shirou thought as he raced down the hallways of Homurahara Academy, his body reinforced to the point he was at Olympic athlete level doing his damndest to avoid an agile panther-like man with a crimson red spear that just seemed to give off a feeling of death.

He had deigned to stay behind after school and fix up various appliances for Issei and lost track of time, by the time he finished it was late and he felt he should get home to feed a likely hungry Taiga. He was about to leave when he heard the sound of metal striking metal coming from in front of the Academy as he made his way home. Curious, he made his way to the front of the school only to gasp wide-eyed, at what he found.

They looked human but there was no way they could be, as they moved so fast their forms were merely two blurs: one red and black and the other blue and crimson. It was only when their weapons clashed briefly that could catch a glimpse of them. The blue and red blur solidified into a six foot tall man with pale skin, spiky blue hair, sporting a feral wolf-like grin on his face, and wearing a blue body suit covered in silver lines and metal shoulder armor and steel covered boots and wielding a thin but six foot long crimson red spear that while beautiful as it was covered in vine-like embossments alone its shaft, gave Shirou a feeling of dread.

The other man by contrast was an inch taller, with bronze colored skin, silver eyes, and slicked back white hair wearing black and grey lined armor, and black combat pants and boots, as well as a red mantle or coat of some sort. But the blades he used captivated Shirou.

They were a pair of what appeared to be piandao. one was a cloudy white while the other was a midnight black covered in hexagonal patterns, each blade possessed a yin yang symbol near its hilt as well as a small streak of color from the opposing blade, the bottom half of both blades along with their pommels were made out of red metal while their grips were wrapped in black leather.

Shirou wanted to step closer to get a better look at the paired blades…and ended up stepping on a twig snapping it in two and drawing the attention of the man in blue. He could've sworn he heard a familiar voice curse and say no one else was supposed to be here this late, but he wasn't really sure as he was running for his life at that point…

* * *

_'__Why did I run to the roof of the school?'_ Shirou asked himself as he stared down the man in blue wielding a crimson spear, his back against the fence while the spearman stood smirking in front of the door, the only exit from the rooftop.

"Nothing personal kid, you just stumbled onto something you shouldn't have."

Before Shirou could reply, the spearman blurred in front of him only for him to re-solidify, accompanied by a sharp pain coming from his chest, looking down, he saw the point of the warriors spear embedded in his chest. His vision rapidly darkened as the dark stain of blood stained his shirt…

* * *

Shirou suddenly opened his eyes and found himself standing in in an unfamiliar yet familiar place. He knew he had never been to such a place yet it seemed so familiar like he had seen it on a daily bias. The ground was bare and a dark reddish color. He could know make out some shapes which he recognized as various appliances he had repaired over the years and a blood red Spear that looked suspiciously. He could see in the sky giant cogs that turned and lighting dash through the sky yet what captivated his attention was the hill. The hill was the only notable landmark and on the top were too things that shined with radiance. A blue and golden she ate that gave him a sense of protection and invincibly. The other what appeared to be a miniature golden sun. The thing was tiny not much bigger than his hand. Only a spark yet he could feel it could become more much more.

As these two objects glimmered he found himself walking to them when he reached the top of the hill. He stared at the objects. They were on his left and right sides and he could swear he saw to women on the side. One a beautiful blonde teenager with green eyes and a stern face was by the gold and blue sheathe while the other was a more mature looking bespectacled blonde that had a kinder look was by the spark. As Shirou gazed at the women he felt familiarity to them especially the bespectacled blonde as she was the woman he saw in his locket. The woman that was his...

"Mother."

The elder of the two blondes smiled and offered her hand.

The younger blonde did the same.

Shirou looked at the hands.

It seemed to be a cliché. Being offered one of two paths and seemed ridiculous yet he felt this was important. He felt the decision he made here would decide his destiny. No matter what decision he took, he would never be able to change it. Once he grasped on of these hands it was a done deal.

Shirou starred at those hands at what felt for an eternity. The blondes' hand promised to continue him on his current path. That of a magus. He looked at her and in her regal eyes he saw a long hard road that would do his best to break him yet would grant him a happy ending if he preserved. It also meant completely rejecting what little he had left of his old life and while he couldn't remember what that life was it made him uneasy.

At what was his...mother (it was so weird saying that) hand and eyes he saw another path. One of creativity and innovation. A path that meant chaos yet fun at the same time. It would also reconnect to his past to his birthright. How he didn't know but he had a gut feeling about it. Yet he could also tell it meant abandoning all he had learned of magic I'm exchange for science (how had he known that?)

On his left was the path of magic, his father, and Shirou Emiya.

On the right was the oath of science, his mother and the boy he used to be.

His current life or his past.

Shirou continued to contemplate. He had a feeling that no matter what happened he would still be on the path of a hero. After he couldn't break the promise he made to his old man.

He couldn't throw away the path of the magus. He had worked so hard on it and it was part of his father's legacy to him. This lessons he gave him so he could start on the path of a hero.

Yet he also couldn't deny the need to see the other path. The one he originally would've walked. The one that. Just to give him a chance to connect to his past. While he normally wasn't bothered by it, there were times where he wanted to learn more about his origins. Especially after seeing his family picture on his locket. Those smiling faces of his true parents. He...he wanted to see that in person again and he felt that the Spark could help.

So he was stuck at a crossroads. He closed his eyes and then opened them after a minute his mind made up.

He grabbed both hands.

"Sorry. I'm just so stubborn that even if something is impossible I'll keep striving for it."

He had decided to take both his old and current self.

The boy of science and died ten years ago but the magus had died today. So maybe the mixture of both would succeed. Shirou had a feeling that doing thus was the most arduous path of all yet...

I have no regrets.

This is the path I forged with my own hands.

As he said these words in a trance, a golden light and warmth enveloped him from the two glowing objects and the world was then covered in a golden light.

* * *

The first thing Shirou heard was voices as he began to awaken.

"You should've…-ust left –im be –in." a male voice that sounded cold and uncaring replied.

"No-"a familiar feminine voice replied. _'Tohsaka?'_ he thought bewildered.

"My territory…it's my fault- responsibility." He heard.

_'__She blames herself for what happened to me.'_ Shirou realized.

He reached out and blindly grasped her hand before groaning out "You shouldn't blame yourself for my stupidity Tohsaka. Thanks for the save though." He said as he opened his eyes confirming it was indeed the school idol with her aquamarine eyes, black hair tied up in two twintails, the only difference was she wasn;t wearing the school uniform and instead had swapped it out for a red long-sleeved shirt with a sliver cross in the middle and a scandalously short black skirt. Thankfully though Shirou hadn't noticed the wardrobe change and was staring into her surprised face instead.

"Emiya, you were awake?" she asked semi nervously.

Nodding a bit Shirou sat up with a grunt of pain before asking "You didn't happen to get the plates of the bus that ran me over did you?"

The look on Tohsaka's face was a mix between incredulity at the fact he had made a joke after coming back from the brink of death, and amusement at the same thing. Finally, she merely deciced to sigh, shake her head and say "No, sorry Emiya-kun."

Shirou then shakily stood up before saying "Damn that sucks." He then touched his chest, feeling a massive scar along with something else…

"Son of a-"Shirou began only to pull his locket up to eye-level and see that it had been cut almost clean in half.

In a quiet remorseful tone the school idol said "It was like that when I found you, if it's any consolation, it probably blunted the blow just enough for me to get to you in time." She paused a moment before asking "Was it important?"

Shirou swallowed a lump in his throat before he nodded "It was the last link I had to my biological parents, they died in the Fuyuki Fire ten years ago."

Her eyes sharpened in shock and she whispered "You survived that?!"

Shirou nodded "Yeah I was the one survivor out of five hundred dead."

Rin put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder "Well you at least have your memories of your parent's right?"

Much to her surprise, Homurahara Gakuren's fake janitor shook his head and said "No, the doctors say the fire was so traumatic, that it wiped my memory of everything that happened prior to the fire."

"Oh, umm I'm ah, sorry to hear that." Rin replied awkwardly.

Again Shirou shook his head and said "Don't worry about it, well anyway I'd better, be going. Thanks again Tohsaka-san."

"Yeah, sure no, no problem…"

"Rin." Her Servant, currently in astral form said as the red head walked away.

"Rin." He repeated more urgently only to finally yell "RIN!"

Finally snapping out of her daze she bit out "What is it you incessantly annoying Servant?"

Taking form once again revealing the white haired, dark-skinned, and red and black clothed man Emiya had seen earlier, the now named Servant Archer replied "Aren't you forgetting the part where you wipe his mind so he doesn't remember anything of the Grail War?"

Rin Tohsaka, Master of Servant Archer and heir of one of the Three Families that designed the Heaven's Feel Ritual was silent for a moment before she said "Crap!"

She then rushed to the fence that surrounded the school roof only to see Emiya already making his way off of the school grounds and internally she swore knowing she had to track him down to keep the Grail War a secret…but first she needed to find out where he exactly he lived.

* * *

As Shirou walked home he felt better than he had in his entire life. His vision felt sharper his mind clearer, and his body less fatigued. It was like some form of distracting white fog had suddenly been lifted from his very being and he was seeing the world as it truly was for the first time. He didn't take too much time to enjoy the sights however as he knew somehow that the blue spear wielder from earlier would be coming back for him, and if he did then he had to be ready to defend himself this time.

_'__Because I am not looking forward to be killed by someone who wears a blue armored gimp suit twice.'_ Shirou thought sourly before he rushed home and locked himself in his shed.

Once inside he began looking over various pieces of junk in his shed. Seeing a half hidden air-compressor in the corner from when he last check the tires on old man Fujimura's bike along with a crate full of D batteries Raiga's men just so happen to 'find' when Shirou complained about the prices in the nearby store one day as well as a wooden tripod from an old fashioned camera he was trying to fix again for Raiga-san's sake he also had several tubes of pvc pipe and a spool or two of copper wiring on hand for when something needed fixed around the house...

Oh so slowly an idea started to form in his mind like pieces of a jigsaw fitting themselves together. Gathering various tools, he got to work, while also praying this would stop the blue gimp suit wearing spear wielder…

* * *

It took him a bit, but Lancer finally tracked down the kid from earlier. He still couldn't figure out how the guy survived, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was that he saw something he shouldn't have and needed to be put down. He did a sweep through the house and quickly concluded the kid wasn't there, so he headed towards the only other place the kid could be on the property…a moderately sized shed.

It was only his B-rank in Protection from Arrows that saved him from the barrage of lightning bolts that came blasting through the door blasting it to splinters showing the redhead standing behind some kind of multi barreled machine that was spitting out bolts of light at a rapid pace, with a maniac grin on his face, causing the Servant of the Lance to take a step back in surprise and think as he deflected the barrage _'Lightning bolts? Shit this kid is a magus! Is he a Master?!'_

_"__If that's so eliminate him now. If he is this troublesome on his own, there is no telling how annoying he could become if he gets his hands on a Servant."_ A voice in his head ordered coolly.

"Tch, fine whatever." Lancer muttered before he began to slowly advance forwards towards the redhead whose grin slipped off his face as the Servant advanced with little issue.

He advanced on Shirou quickly and within moments he was able to slice the makeshift Gatling gun in half, giving him a shallow cut from his leg to his shoulder in the process. Shirou crawled back blood dripping from his wound, his little keepsake sliding from the tear the spear in his pants pocket, now bloodied as he crawled backwards, away from his attacker.

All Shirou could do was think _'I don't want to die, I want to live…I WANT TO LIVE!'_

Suddenly, the floor around him glowed as a formulacraft circle inscribed on the ground lit up, Shirou felt a strong pull on his magic circuits, and in an explosion of raw magical power that temporarily both of them as well as pushing the spearman back. As the light cleared, Shirou felt spent and was in pain all over as if he had just gone through the Fuyuki Fire a second time. Yet, even as he laid there on the floor of his shed he saw them.

They were four women. The first of which was five foot even and had blonde hair done in a loose ponytail held up by black ribbon with green eyes enhanced by a regal knightly appearance which was further enforced by the fact she was wearing a white battle dress and matching armor at her side was a sheathed longsword as well as a large hunting dagger.

The second woman by contrast was half a foot taller than the first, had long light green hair, brown eyes and wore nothing more than a loose shirt and pair of pants not even simple sandals on her feet. Her outfit however would've almost masked her gender entirely if it wasn't for her moderately sized bust.

The third of the quartet was the strangest of them; as although she was only 5'3 she had pink hair and amber eyes and was dressed the most provocatively. She wore a short blue and white trimmed kimono that had long wide sleeves and an obi which was colored black and gold. The kimono was cut along the sides similar to a Chinese dress, which showed off her legs that were concealed by blue stockings and complimented by the three inch platform heels she wore but the biggest thing was the golden brown fox ears and accompanying tail she sported.

The last woman of the group was Asian like himself standing at 5'1, with pale skin, long straight black hair piercing predatory green eyes dressed like a biker; with the top half of her ensemble merely consisting of an open white fur trimmed jacket and a black leather sports bra that showed off her toned stomach. She also was skin tight black leather pants that rode her hips, along with a chain linked belt with an X shaped buckle, and finished the look off with laced up combat boots. In other words she was a fem fatal.

But this wasn't the weirdest part; no, the strangest part was, they were all seemingly smiling at him warmly as if they knew him. The female knight spoke first "We have come at your summons. I am Servant Saber and these are Servants Lancer, Caster, and Assassin. We ask of you, are you our master?"

Shirou worked his jaw for a moment trying to figure out what exactly is going on so he knew how exactly to respond. Finally he muttered out "Yes?"

The biker woman spoke in a voice that was calm and yet seemingly had a dangerous undertone, she said "Good, because it would be awkward otherwise."

She then cracked her neck from side to side and walked forward easily stepping past the still stunned redhead before stopping at the door and saying "The rest of you stay here with him, I'm going to show the mutt out there why a dog should never tangle with a feral wolf."

"La-I mean Assassin!" the woman in the white battle dress began only to stop when she saw the other woman look over her shoulder and scowl at her.

After a tense moment the Asian feme fatle asked "Yes?

"Be careful." The knight said, in response the woman only nodded before calmly walking out of the shed.

* * *

Lancer couldn't believe it not only had he been blown backwards after coming close to offing the witness but the so-called witness turns out to be the final Master who not only summons Saber but from what little information he was given by the Grail itself had just activated the backup summoning system by summoning three extra Servants!

_'__Just who the hell is this guy!'_ Lancer thought.

**_"_****_That's what you're here to find out seeing as it's your job to scout out the competition. This boy especially requires watching seeing as he was able to subvert the normal one Servant per master summoning process."_** The disembodied voice of his master reminded him.

_'__For once, I agree with you, you despicable bastard.'_ Lancer thought back as he readied his legendary spear as a shape made its way from the entrance.

As it turned out, it was a woman from this country clad in leather clothing of the modern era, she didn't exclude the aura of a Servant but…

_'__She's far too confident to just be walking up to me like she is.'_ Lancer thought. Once she was within range of his spear he called for her to halt.

The girl ignored him and kept moving forward, run at which point she flipped over the blue clad Servant only to whisper "Bye-bye." Into his ear.

Lancer's Disengage ability served him well now as he used it to quickly retreat from the girl moments before a *snicket* was heard. Having been on many a battlefield in life, Lancer knew that sound, it was the unmistakable sound of a blade being unsheathed. Ducking into a roll he managed to avoid a maneuver that would've taken his head had it connected. Standing up from his crouched position, Lancer marveled at what could only be an Assassin's Noble Phantasm. He was far from impressed.

She had two metal coated claws jutting out from between her far left and far right knuckles on each hand, each was a silvery color and a foot long in length. He then had to guard as the girl charged him, slashing away aiming at his major arteries. Lancer managed to deflect all of these assaults and push the girl back using a blurring barrage of stabs from his crimson spear.

It was only after she had backed out the range of his spear that he noticed them. All along Gea Bolgs length were cuts and scratches from where he had turned away the girls' attacks. Lancer stared at Assassin's Noble Phantasm with newfound respect, as a savage grin spread across his face.

_'__This could be fun. She's as fast as me and she has a Phantasm capable of damaging mine.'_ He thought.

**_"_****_No, it's not that she's fast, quite the opposite really it's that you've slowed down."_** Lancers 'Master mused in a curious fashion.

_'__Eh, seriously?' _

While Lancer was staring at Assassin's Noble Phantasm and secretly conversing with his master, she herself was going over what she learned from their brief skirmish in her head, full folding her arms across her moderately sized chest as she did so and gave him a once over.

_'__So he has A-rank Agility then, has to have it being able to keep up with me after all that. Strength must be around C-rank as he had no trouble deflecting my attacks with pure strength, endurance probably isn't nearly as good as mine. Hell, I'd be surprised if it was. Not sure about his mana or luck though-'_

"Oi girl!" Lancer suddenly called out getting her attention.

Annoyed at being addressed so she narrowed her eyes at him and said "Yeah mutt, what is it?"

Rather than get annoyed like she thought he would, Lancer just smirked and said "Feisty huh? I like that."

Raising an eyebrow she replied "Sorry, I'm spoken for."

This caused the blue clad servant to sigh and slump slightly in defeat and mutter "All the real women are. More's the pity." He then shook himself and said "What the hell did you do to me girly? I know damn well I'm supposed to have A-rank Agility yet according to my Master the minute we started fighting, all my parameters took a nosedive. What gives?"

"I'm an Assassin I don't fight fair." She replied simply.

Grinning again he replied "True enough, but sadly my Master wants you gone because your Noble Phantasm is troublesome, nothing personal this is one of the best fights I've had in a while." He said as he took a stance similar to someone about to use a pool cue, his free hand covering the flat of the spear head, the arm holding the shaft bent back with his legs bent as the spear itself became encased in a flaming crimson energy that, to Assassin gave off a feeling of finality.

"Gáe-"he called as Assassin rushed him, attempting to cut him down before he could unleash his Phantasm.

"-Bolg!" he finished before thrusting the spear forward, causing its tip to become a bolt of light that flew straight towards Assassins heart, piercing it and stopping her cold.

Even as blood seeped from her wound, Assassin snarled like a wounded beast and attempted to drag herself forwards on the spear, but it was all for naught and soon her legs gave out and she fell to her knees and then fell over on the ground laying on her side. The cursed spear of Ireland's most legendary hero withdrew then, returning to its former shape.

_'__Now what? 'Cause I don't think I can take on three more Servants with Gáe Bolg in this condition, given time I can repair it though.'_

Before Lancer's master could respond, the Servant's attention was drawn by the sound of something impacting with the ground behind him in a steady rhythm. Turning on his heel Lancer found an old geezer with a sinister wrinkled face sporting a slate grey flattop crew cut wearing geta sandals, black hakama pants over a grey kimono, and a haori overcoat made out of a tiger's pelt. He was tightly gripping a wooden cane in his left hand.

Lancer knew he shouldn't yet he felt suddenly wary of this new arrival. He sensed a deep well of hidden strength within the man, what was more? He knew the old man knew that he knew what he was capable of.

The two stared at each other for a moment and then, the old man spoke in a gruff gravelly voice "Well, well, what do we have here? A rabid dog attacking my surrogate grandson and ward of the Fujimura Group, not only that, but this same rabid dog saw fit to kill a woman likely a guest of my grandson on his property."

A look of disgusted annoyance crossed the man's face and his brow knit before he spat "Explain yourself mutt!"

Lancer's eye twitched in annoyance. There were two things he hated the first was betrayal which already happened, and the second was being referred to as a dog. The girl earlier was different, Lancer liked strong-willed women…the geezer however, was a different story…

Loosening a low growl from his throat, Lancer leveled his chipped and dinged crimson spear at the old timer and said "Who's asking?"

"I'm glad you asked." He said before he snapped his fingers, causing several younger men in black suits to appear next to him toting what the Grail told him were automatic weapons that fired little bits of lead at high speeds, speeds faster than any thrown spear or shot arrow. While he positive he could deflect all the 'bullets' due to his Protection from Arrows, he now had more than a dozen witnesses to the Holy Grail War.

"Lancer!" a furious voice behind him yelled causing him to glace behind him and noted that the redheaded Master who if the look of fury on the kid's face was any indication, he was pissed and his other Servants, one of which he could tell was a Saber due to her knightly mode of dress as well as the fact that she carried a sheathed blade and dagger on her hip, had come out of the shed. The class of other two were a mystery however.

**_"__As much as it would amuse me to watch you die futilely Lancer, you should retreat for now. You may be able to silence the witnesses later; but not now with three Servants here especially with one of them being a Saber."_ **His master commented.

Upon hearing this, the Servant of the Lance turned to the newly minted Master and said "We'll settle up another time kid." Before he assumed his astral form and disappeared.

"Lance stop!" Saber called only to be stopped when Shirou placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head before nodding over to the downed Assassin and Caster were with Assassins head on Caster's lap as she laid glowing hand on her chest wound which was rapidly healing with Lancer standing nearby watching Raiga and his men for even the slightest hint of trouble and saying "Watch over Assassin and Caster with Lancer I need to talk with Raiga-san."

Saber looked at him hesitantly a moment only for him to smile and nod at her assuring her he would be ok and making his way forward, after his back was turned the blonde sent the yazuka oyabun a sharp look that clearly said she could be by Shirou's side in seconds should he or his men attempt to do anything before she turned and headed towards the other Servants.

Shirou silently approached Raiga Fujimura and once he was a few feet away he stopped and said "What brings you by Raiga-san? If it's your bike, I'm afraid it'll have to wait for obvious reasons."

Raiga smirked and opened his mouth in an attempt to retort only to be cut off by a sudden worry filled cry of "SHIROU~!"

Shirou suddenly found his head crushed into the bust of one Taiga Fujimura as she howled and cried saying how worried she was about him…and about starving to death.

"Are you ok, are you hurt? Did that crazy guy cut off your hands, can you still cook, you can still cook right?!" she asked frantically.

Shirou suddenly felt himself forcefully pulled away from Taiga and glanced behind himself as he coughed for air and found the green haired Servant Lancer if he remembered correctly, pulling him away from Taiga and saying defensively "Please do not smother Shirou in your chest."

"Who are you?!" Taiga asked before looking behind the simply dressed girl and noticing two others and adding "Who are they? Shirou, Ojii-san, what's going on?!"

Ignoring his granddaughter's confused ranting for a moment, Raiga said to Shirou "Maybe we should take this inside Emiya? I'm sure we all have questions and out here is perhaps not the best place to discuss such sensitive topics. Besides it would do your Servant well to get out of the open when so wounded." Raiga said as he looked around warily specifically towards the far roofs, his eyes stopping on one sporting a water storage tank for a moment before moving on.

Noticing how skittish the normally gung-ho man was being, Shirou nodded and said "Come inside Raiga-san, I'll make some tea and something to eat if you're feeling hungry."

Shirou started to make his way to the house only to be stopped by Lancer who said "Shirou, are you sure you can trust them?"

Shirou merely locked his golden-brown eyes with lancer's earthy brown ones and nodded saying "Taiga was just overly concerned please help the other get-"

"Assassin." Lancer offered. Causing her master to nod and say "Yes Assassin thank you, help the others get her into a room in the house and get her comfortable while I make a quick dinner for everyone. Oh, are you hungry?"

The Servant of the Lance cocked her head to the side in confusion which Shirou secretly found endearing and said in her down to earth tone "Master, we are Servant's' ghost of legendary heroes given physical form we do not require food."

Shirou's eyes widened a bit at this piece of information before he took a deep calming breath and said "Regardless that isn't what I asked. I asked if you were hungry, not if you required food."

Lancer looked over at both Saber and Caster who she felt knew what Shirou had said thanks in no small part to the fox ears perched on Caster's head. Simultaneously, the two Servants nodded and proceeded to help Assassin into the house. And so, turning back to her master with a slight smile on her face Lacer said "I do believe a bite to eat would be agreeable Master."

Lancer briefly looked towards the water tower that Raiga's eyes had lingered on earlier before seemingly shaking away a stray thought and saying "Let's get going shall we master?"

* * *

Meanwhile across the street on top of a watertower a man red clad and black lowered a massive black bow and said to the young dark haired woman next to him. "What will we do now Rin? Emiya has not only summoned multiple Servants proving he is the wild card in this war, but he is also likely going to inform the old man about Thaumaturgy if he doesn't already know. Plus, I'm certain that his green haired Servant knew we were here somehow, I'm just not sure how."

"Probably a personal skill of some kind Archer. Tell me, what did you think of that Servant of Emiya's that fought Lancer?"

The 6'1 Servant glanced down at his Master and said "Well if you're asking what Class I thought she was, I'd put her at Assassin due to the Noble Phantasm she displayed."

Hearing the doubt in his tone caused Rin to ask "But..?"

Sighing the Servant of the Bow continued "She had some kind of advanced healing ability one that was keeping her from dying despite being stabbed by Lancers Noble Phantasm. I'm fairly certain that the fox girl is a Caster as she was able to negate the ability of the curse long enough for Assassin's healing factor to kick in and take care of the wound itself. The last one is clearly a Saber as she blatantly wears the symbol of her class on her hip I've no clue who she could be though." He finished honestly.

_'__She looks similar, yet dresses different from the Saber I remember also, she has an extra weapon she didn't have previously.'_ He mused.

Coughing into her hand to get her Servant's attention Rin said "So in conclusion Emiya is the seventh master in the Grail War, he has summoned more than the one allotted Servant per master summoning three additional Servants, and could possibly be revealing Thaumaturgy to outsiders at this very moment…could you describe the people he invited inside?"

"An old man grey flattop hair wearing traditional Japanese clothing and a tiger skin overcoat, a very energetic brown haired young woman wearing a yellow and black striped shirt and green dress, and some very well dress lackeys."

Rin nodded "The Fujimura's then. That's fine, there in on the supernatural side of things in Fuyuki or at least Raiga Fujimura is according to the Fake Priest."

This piqued the Servant of the Bow's interest. "Oh, I thought the Matou and the Tohsaka were the only Magus families in Fuyuki?"

Rin nodded only halfhearted paying attention to what her Servant was saying if she was giving him her full attention she might wonder how he knew that both her family and the Matou were the only magus families in Fuyuki as the Grail shouldn't have provided that information.

"We are the only magus families in Fuyuki but one doesn't necessarily need to be a magus to be connected to the twilight world. The Fujimura's for example are…"

* * *

"You're Oni?" Shirou asked incredulously.

Raiga smirked and nodded before he popped some expertly prepared shrimp stir-fry courtesy of Emiya into his mouth chewing it slowly and savoring the taste before swallowing he said "I'm sure your picturing fanged monsters with wild hair and red skin wearing tiger-skin loincloths and swinging around iron kanabo clubs yes?"

Not waiting for the boy to continue Raiga said "A few generations ago, you would be correct that is exactly what my clan, which hailed from the Wisteria Village from which we get our surname were savage beasts. But then one day, my Several times great grandfather fell in love with a woman who was herself a witch giving birth to our clans founder as it is today, he who became one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Yorimitsu; one Sakata Kintoki."

Shirou as well as Saber, Lancer, and Caster were stunned into silence. After a moment Taiga chuckled and said "I think you broke him Ojii-san, Shirou~!" she yelled getting his attention before holding her rice bowl in front of him and saying "Seconds please!"

"H-Hai." Shirou said giving Taiga what was in truth her third bowl before asking "So are there any advantages or drawbacks due to your…heritage?"

Raiga answered with a nod saying "Yes as it so happens." He then sighed saying "Shirou let's lay our cards on the table here. You are a magus, are you not? Like Kiritsugu before you?"

This caused Taiga to choke on her rice and sputter for a moment before she managed to get out "Shirou and Kiritsugu are Magi? Gramps don't be ridiculous Shirou isn't-"

"Yes that's right." Shirou replied before adding "Though compared to a normal magus I'm third-rate at best. According to my teachers anyway, seeing as I can barely grasp the basics."

Swallowing a knot in her throat Taiga said quietly "You're really a magus Shirou? Does that mean you go around kidnapping people and-"Shirou raised, prematurely a hand silencing his 'guardian' and saying "Taiga, you've known me for years, do you really think I'm capable of those types of things?"

The twenty-four year old lowered her head in shame before saying in an even quieter tone than earlier "Sorry Shirou, your right."

Waving away her apology by refilling her rice bowl again, Shirou turned back to Raiga and motioned for him to continue. Clearing his throat, Raiga said "Yes well, as I was saying my clan has one very specific advantage and you've seen Taiga display it numerous times already. We have unnatural proficiency with any weapon we happen to pick up. You've heard the term 'an oni with an iron club is invincible?' Well that was coined by the fact that the ancestors of the Fujimura Group were nigh invincible when fighting with weapons only they could lift."

"So you are stronger and more durable as well?" Lancer asked this being the first time the Servants had spoken since the food was served.

"Yes, not on the level of a Servant, but we are at least five times more durable than the average man these days, and can lift about seven and a half times the weight. There is also the risk of the Inversion Impulse if we push ourselves too much..." Raiga then shook his head and waved the subject away with his hand saying "Enough about me though Emiya, let's talk about you. Or more specifically the Holy Grail War that you have gone and gotten yourself involved in. A Holy Grail War that is happening fifty years too early I might add."

Even though Shirou felt a headache coming on he began a conversation with Raiga Fujimura that led long into the early hours of the morning.

* * *

**Chapter length: 10,210 - Date Completed: 10/19/14**

* * *

**AN: Hello I am Bubbajack and despite what some of my fans on here may think I'm not dead! I have been planning to move to a new house for the past three months though, hence my long absence. Anyway, this is something I came up with during the move and decided to put to (paper?) to anyone who has read the Webcomic Girl Genius, you are in for a wild ride, if you haven't that's fine as I've got bits and pieces planned from various fics I've read/shows I've seen and it shall all make sense…eventually. Not right away mind you, because if everything makes sense from the beginning the plot becomes transparent and thus pointless. I've seen that happen far too many times in some fics. **

**Anyway as you (Hopefully) can tell just from this chap, this will not be your average FSN fic or even an average Grail War and it shall get crazier as it goes on and there may be more Marvel comics characters' showing up (I'm sure some of you know what I mean by this). Till the next chap, Bubbajack out!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By: Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Girl Genius, or anything else that may or may not make it into this fic.**

**Ch.2: Complications in abundance.**

_"__Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."_\- Murphy's Law

* * *

It was roughly two in the morning when Raiga left with Taiga and his men in tow. One of several things that had been decided was that Shirou would not be attending school until the Grail War was over also Sakura would not be allowed to come over to his house, so as not to not draw suspicion to himself but to also keep an eye on one of the fellow Masters of the Grail War. Shirou was surprised to learn that Sakura was a magus like himself, but he refused to believe that she would actually try and hurt him.

"If she wanted to hurt me, she could've done so for almost a year now." He'd argued last night.

Surprisingly it was Taiga who argued with him on this point. "Look, I like her just as much as you do Shirou, but the fact is, she is a Master now and a possible threat to your safety. As your guardian I can't let someone who could possibly be a threat to you come around…for the time being anyway."

Seeing the defiant look in her wards eyes she added "Look, I promised Kerry-kun I'd look after you and you can be mad at me if you want, but I'm not going to break my word to him."

"My granddaughter is right Emiya, the Holy Grail can grant any wish that is a temptation that can make even the kindest of people do the most terrible of things. You would do well to keep that in mind. And remember, the Matou girl isn't the only one you need to watch out for now, there is also that Tohsaka brat. You would do well to remember that."

_'__Rin Tohsaka, Second Owner of Fuyuki City.'_ Shirou mused as he lay in his futon. _'Dad always told me to be careful using magecraft around her, but he never explained why…now I guess I know. I'm basically_ _squatting on someone else's property.'_

Sighing Shirou sat up and decided to try and clear his mind by going and making breakfast. After he made it into the kitchen he decided to make a western breakfast today and started pulling out eggs, meat, and potatoes to make omelets and hash browns. As he cooked he continued to think but not about the Grail War.

Reaching into his pocket as he flipped a skillet full of hash browns one handed, he pulled out the broken pendant he had always worn around his neck, the pendant that seemed to be inhibiting his mental thought processes in some way and was the cause of his constant migraines.

"Trace On." He muttered firing up his magic circuits using the mental image of a dead and bare tree being set aflame before he traced the object in his hands, receiving a mental blueprint of the item in question.

As the blueprint for the locket appeared in his mind he found it was some kind of mental inhibitor that was supposed to fire off the pain receptors in his brain if he ever concentrated too deeply on something.

Shirou wasn't lying last night when he said he could barely grasp the basics of magecraft. In truth the only thing his sensei managed to teach him without him getting a headache and needing to lay down were the basics of basics that of the school of Material Transmutation, which consisted of the Reinforcement of an object by filling the 'cracks' in its structure and make it stronger as a result, Alteration which could Alter the shape of an object to make it more useful, and Projection to create objects out of pure prana, and Formalcraft the use of sacrifices and magic circles to produce various effects using mana instead of his od supply.

Whenever his sensei tried to teach him anything more complex, like construct creation, Mystic Code crafting, or a variation of Runecraft, his migraines would flare up making it impossible to learn those skills.

_ '__Now though maybe I can graduate from being a third rate magus to a second rate one. But before that…'_

"Assassin, are you feeling better today?" he asked smiling while turning around to find his fellow countrywoman trying to sneak up behind him wearing the exact same outfit she wore last night sans the jacket so now the only thing covering the top half of her form was a leather bra.

Surprised at being caught sneaking by her master, Assassin stuttered out "I-I'm doing fine, thank you."

Shirou nodded and turned away saying "What's got you up so early?"

Standing there awkwardly, the Servant of the Shadows replied "I smelled food cooking and uh-"

"You were hungry in other words, understandable, considering the wound you took last night." Shirou said with an understanding nod before adding "If you'll just have a seat at the table, breakfast will be ready shortly."

Surprisingly this caused the Servant to smile before she nodded turned and headed towards the table only for her to stop and look back briefly saying "Master, can I ask you a favor?"

Sure what is it?" Shirou replied absentmindedly as he reached for plates.

"Could you call me Laura instead of Assassin?" she requested softly.

Shirou put the plates down on the counter and looked at the Servant who looked troubled and somewhat vulnerable at the moment before saying "I'm assuming Laura is your first name?" Seeing Assassin nod in response he replied "Sure, as long as you call me Shirou. You girls calling me Master makes it sound like I own you or we're in some sort of BDSM Dungeon Master Slave Relationship and that's not really my thing."

The now named Laura did her best fish out of water impression blinking with her mouth slightly agape for a moment before her face turned red and she muttered out "I-I never really thought about it like that before."

Chuckling at the look on her face for a moment as he set the table Shirou replied "Well like I said, just call me Shirou. That sounds better."

"So then Shirou what's for breakfast?" a gender neutral voice asked.

Turning, Shirou saw both Lancer, Saber, and Caster standing in the entryway to the dining room with amused looks on their faces. Lancer was wearing the same tunic and pants from yesterday, Saber was wearing a pure white sundress with no armor or weapons present, and Caster was wearing a black and gold Gothic Lolita outfit with long sleeves, black pantyhose, black heels, and her bright pink hair being held in twin tails by a light blue ribbon. Upon seeing the looks on their faces; Laura scowled and snapped "What's so funny?!"

Taking a seat next to the flustered Assassin, Lancer said "You don't usually show much in the way of emotion, so seeing you blush, it was cute."

Shirou secretly agreed with Lacer's assessment of Assassin but turned his "Oi Shirou, hasn't anyone ever told you it's the wife's job to cook? Caster complained half-heartedly as she took a seat on Lancer's left.

Shaking his finger at her warningly he replied "Not in my house it isn't and if you know what's good for you Caster, you'll stay out of my kitchen." He jokingly threatened.

Caster pouting cutely like a child, half flattening her ears and swished her tail from side to side, crossed her arms over her chest and puffed out her cheeks muttering "No fair Shirou!"

Feeling awkward he reached over and patted her on the head saying "If it makes you feel any better, you can do the dishes. Ok Caster?"

"Ok!" she said immediately cheering up, causing Shirou to mentally sweatdrop and think _'She just wanted to help out somehow…how cute, if a little bit much.'_

Lancer then cleared her throat and said "Since Assassin has seen fit to tell you her first name I only think it would be appropriate we do so as well."

Saber glanced at her green haired compatriot and asked worriedly "Are you sure that is wise Lancer what if he gets captured by an enemy master?"

Turning to face the Servant of the Sword, Lacer raised an eyebrow and inquired "Saber, do you honestly think an enemy Servant and master pair has a chance to kidnap Shirou with the four of us around? Do you honestly think we'll allow Shirou to go anywhere unattended until this war is over?"

Saber for her part sighed and shook her head before saying "your right Lancer I apologize, I am merely-"Lacer cut her off by smiling serenely saying "Being cautious? While that isn't a bad thing Saber, it is unwarranted in this case."

Saber nodded before pushing her blonde locks to the side before locking her green eyes with Shirou and saying "You may refer to me as Altria."

"I went by Misukume at birth, you can call me that." Caster said cheerfully, but Shirou noticed a hint of concern in her tone yet decided not to call her on it.

"I'm Enkidu pleased to meet you Shirou." Lancer said cheerfully.

"And I'm Shirou Emiya, I'll be in your care until the Grail War ends, please take good care of me." Shirou asked while placing the finished meal on the table.

"Please take good care of us also. Itadakimatsu!" the Servants intoned as one before they dug into the food.

Shirou proceeded to quickly fix himself a plate all the while glancing at the door. Seeing her master preoccupied Saber said "Mas-Shirou, is something wrong?"

Shaking away his thoughts he said "It's nothing serious I think, it's just that, neither Taiga nor Sakura showed up today like they usually do."

Saber nodded and was silent for a time before she said "I see, but perhaps this is for the best as it allows us to plan for the War without having to worry about a potential enemy master being about."

Hesitantly nodded "Yeah, I suppose your right. By the way I need to make a phone call. Excuse me."

After Shirou left the room, Saber eyed his plate only for Caster to cover it with a napkin and narrow her golden eyes at the blade wielding servant saying "Don't even think about it, it's bad enough we practically eat him out of house and home, and that he's probably going have to go to the store every day we're here, but the least we could do is make sure he gets a decent meal."

"R-Right!" Altria said before lowering her head in shame as she blushed.

* * *

Meanwhile the reason Sakura and Taiga hadn't shown up for breakfast that morning was due to Taiga wanting to have a…little chat with the girl woman to woman and as from the girl who was the Guardian to one Shirou Emiya to the girl who had an obvious crush on him turned potential enemy. So Taiga riding her supped up green motor scooter made her way over to the Matou residence on the 'foreigner' side of Miyama Town. She pretended not to notice the black car full of her gramps men 'discreetly' following her but decided it probably wouldn't hurt to have them along just this once…if even half the things Gramps told her about Zouken Matou were true she could use the extra hands.

She found the Matou residence easily enough, it was more a decaying ruin than a house. Taiga wrinkled her nose in disgust as the smell of mold and decay reached her nose and thought _'I can't believe Sakura lives in this shithole.'_

Taking a gulp of air to keep down the late meal Shirou had provided for her, Taiga made her way towards the door. As she neared the sounds of shouting and a scuffle could be heard, narrowing her eyes, Taiga hurried to the door and rapt on it both quickly and repeatedly. The sounds of violence ceased briefly only for Taiga to hear a familiar voice shout "Go see who's at the door stupid!"

_'__Shinji huh; why am I not surprised? It seems Sakura won't be the only one getting a warning today._' The Homurahara English teacher thought with narrowed eyes.

Moments later the door was opened by a ragged looking Sakura who had a busted lip, black left eye, and a red hand print on the right side of her face. Upon seeing her condition Taiga let out a shrill whistle, and several dozen yazuka in suits seemed to pop out of nowhere. The largest of them was easily six and a half feet tall with very broad shoulders and long arms and legs with a shaved head giving him a blocky look similar to the depiction's to Frankenstein's Monster. Bowing to the point he was near Taiga's head he spoke in a deep rumbling baritone "You called Taiga-sama?"

Yes Chimi, please have Keisei escort Sakura-chan to the car while the rest of you come with me to 'have a talk' with Shinji."

The mountain of a man, otherwise known as Chimi no Enzou as his first name meant Mountain Demon and that he was an excommunicated monk who was 'asked to leave' the monkhood of Mt. Enzou for violent behavior which may or may not have involved him stabbing a fellow acolyte through the eye with a wooden spoon if you believed the rumors and add onto that he had never failed a single task Raiga had ever given him a decent portion of which was wet work, and everyone assumed his reputation was well earned.

Chimi nodded to one of his underlings who moved forward and gently but firmly took Sakura by the hand and said "This way Miss Matou, Fujimura-sama wishes to have a word with you this morning so if you would please follow me to the car?"

Sakura looked from Taiga's serious face to the imposing serious man who must've been wearing a custom made black suit with a red tie, who nodded silently at her, causing the purple haired magus to turn to the yazuka named Keisei, who besides having messy black hair and wearing a pair of neon yellow glasses that completely covered his eyes looked completely average and said "Lead the way Keisei-san."

The man nodded and said "This way miss, and please call me Chin."

As the two walked away Taiga heard Sakura asked "Your Chinese?"

Chimi, remind me to give Keisei a raise. He has a way of putting people at ease which comes in handy from time to time." Taiga said off handedly as she made her way forward.

"Dully noted madam, now shall we have our chat with the young Matou?" he said, his baritone tinged with savage glee as he cracked his knuckles.

Taiga shook her head in exasperation at Chimi's bloodlust; but nodded and said "Go ahead and let Shinji know we're here Chimi."

With a grin that threatened to split his face Chimi asked "Any particular preference?"

"Knock?" Taiga suggested with a mischievous smirk on her face which was mirrored on Chimi's before he pulled his fist back and punched the closed door, sending it flying off its hinges and ironically knocking over and landing on top of the very person they were coming to chat with.

Casually kicking over the solid oak door, Chimi lifted Shinji up by his hair and slammed him against the wall before he placed his other hand 'gently' over Shinji's throat, stifling his groaning as well as getting his attention. Upon seeing the mountain of a man, Shinji paled and tried to swallow futilely, which only caused the man to shake him and his head to impact painfully with the back of the wall.

"Listen well worm, my employer would like a word with you. Why she would want to speak to a wretch like you in a hovel like this for is something I can't begin to fathom. Regardless you **_will_** be silent and you **_will_** do as your told, understood?" he said punctuating every time he said will with a slight squeeze of Shinji's neck, causing him to nod profusely.

Nodding slightly himself, Chimi let the human trash fall to the floor and pulled out a handgun, training it on the worm before he motioned to someone behind him and Shinji's eyes widened when he saw who came forward.

"F-Fujimura-sensei?" Shinji gasped out still trying to get his breath.

Yep it was his crazy English teacher but she was lacking her usual childish exuberance. Instead, her eyes were trained on his and they were cold and dare he say it, Predatory? Her mouth too was set in a thin grim line, her gait was fluid yet tightened like an animal about to pounce on prey, and Shinji felt particularly vulnerable right now.

Taiga held Shinji's gaze for a moment before she said in a dead even tone "Matou, I'm only going to say this once so listen closely…If I EVER hear or kami's forbid SEE you lay your hands on Sakura again, you'll be getting a visit from my friend Chimi here and then you'll be taking a long walk off a short pier wearing a brand new pair of concrete shoes. Do I make myself clear, Matou?"

Before the little worm could answer the sound of wet stones grinding together was heard. It took the yazuka princess turned English teacher a moment to place it as twisted laughter. Turning around she found herself staring at a bald, pale, decrepit, corpse that was wrinkled with age. The stench of decay coming off him was palpable. This was her first time actually meeting Zouken Matou in person seeing as she'd always had parent teacher conferences with the man over the phone.

"My, my, it is rather noisy around here this morning. To what do I owe the pleasure of a house call Fujimura-sensei?"

Glancing briefly at the fetid corpse, Taiga replied "Nothing much; just reminding Shinji-kun of Homurahara's no tolerance bullying policy. Violence towards his fellow students will not be tolerated regardless of who they are, ne Shinji-kun?" Taiga replied while giving the boy the most fake smile he'd ever seen.

"R-Right Fujimura-sensei! I-It won't happen again!"

The false sweet smile still on her face, Taiga nodded and said "I'm sure it won't; unless you want to take a walk down by the docks with Chimi here."

The English teacher then turned and addressed Zouken properly saying "Sorry for the loud knock but I originally came by to barrow Sakura-chan this morning. Don't worry about getting her to school I'll take care of it. I would appreciate it if you would impress upon Shinji that it isn't proper to put his hands on any girl in such a way."

Scowling in Shinji's direction and making the boy cringe, Zouken replied "Oh I shall be quite thorough, you can be sure of that…"

* * *

Twenty minutes later and Taiga and Sakura were sitting at a table for two in a small diner near Homurahara, all other tables surrounded by Taiga's lackeys ensuring they had absolute privacy. Sakura quietly picked at a plate filled with a large omelet; not touching her tea, while Taiga just sat there and silently watched her. The silence between the two was oppressive and awkward. Finally in a small broken voice Sakura spoke in just above a whisper "Please don't tell Sempai Fujimura-sempai-"Sakura's volume and pitch increased to frantic levels "I don't want him to know…I don't want him to think-"

Sakura stopped talking when she felt taiga take her hand and give it a gentle squeeze and said "I'm not going to tell Shirou anything, but I do need to talk to you about him; which is why I came over to your house today."

Sakura immediately became concerned "Is something wrong with Sempai, Sensei? Is he alright?"

"He's fine-"Taiga said reassuringly before she continued "This has more to do with your regular routine than anything."

The concern did not leave Sakura's face as she said "What do you mean Sensei?"

Feeling slightly ashamed due to what she witnessed minutes earlier, Taiga looked down and muttered "I think it would be best if you say away from Shirou's house for the next couple weeks."

Taiga actually winced when she heard Sakura's completely broken whisper ask "Why?"

Sitting up straighter in her seat Taiga locked eyes with her future student and said "Due to a certain event that is starting fifty years too early, an event that both you and Tohsaka-san are guaranteed to participate in. I'm sure you know the one I'm referring to?"

This caused Sakura to sit bolt upright and stare at her usually childishly exuberant teacher in shock. "How do you know about that?"

"My family may not have a history of magic tricks but we've been known for having…hair-trigger tempers, some people even say we have demon in our blood if you take my meaning?"

Sakura's mouth moved but no sound came out for a few seconds before she took a deep breath and then slowly exhaled before silently nodded and saying "I see; am I to assume by your request that Sempai has been picked as the wildcard this time around?"

Taiga tsked at her own slip up, and nodded begrudgingly. Sakura then continued "I've also noticed that the magical upkeep for my Servant has lessened. According to my grandfather that could only happen if the Grails backup system had been activated. Servant also told me while scouting yesterday that sensed no less than six Servant presences near Sempai's place. Knowing all of this; is it safe to assume Sempai has summoned multiple Servants somehow and inadvertently activated the backup system for the Grail?"

Now it was her English teacher's turn to do her best fish impression as she tried to wrap her head around just how Sakura had figured that out.

"How?" she managed.

Smiling serenely Sakura replied "Something my Servant told me; when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth, no?"

Her eye twitching either from annoyance or lack of food; Taiga replied blandly "Right, so until this event is over, will you do me a favor and stay away from Shirou's house?" Her eyes and voice softening Taiga continued "Its not that I don't trust you Sakura; in fact if I had it my way, you'd be with the redheaded idiot already."

This caused Sakura to blush and Taiga to smirk a bit as she continued "It's just that I want to keep you safe until this thing is over and in order to do that, you need to stay away from Shirou's Servants ok?"

Sakura slowly nodded; fully understanding where her sensei was coming from. However…

"Do you want me to stay at my place for two weeks then?"

Taiga scoffed "After what I've seen today? Heck no; in fact, I think I know someone who would be willing to take you in for a while."

"Really?" Sakura asked with unveiled surprise and hope.

"Yeah." Taiga then turned in her seat and said "What do you say Chimi, up for a house guest?"

The giant of a man jumped as if surprised she was volunteering him before saying hesitantly "I don't think that would be a good idea Taiga-sama."

Raising a quizzical eyebrow Taiga inquired "Do you have new guests I don't know about?"

Chimi shook his head "No-"He was cut off when Taiga continued "And you haven't moved have you? You still live in that house big enough for five all by yourself right?"

"Yes." Chimi replied stiffly.

Taiga pressed her advantage "I'm sure you're tired of takeout; I can vouch for Sakura-chan's cooking. She's almost as good as Shirou."

At this Chimi glanced at Sakura, who nodded timidly confirming the Fujimura's assertion. Letting out a long suffering sigh Chimi said "Very well; she can stay with me, provided she cooks on occasion."

"See Sakura-chan, that old saying is true the way to a man's heart is through is stomach after all." Taiga whispered loudly.

"I'm right here you know? Chimi reminded Taiga in a slightly irritated tone, before turning to Sakura and saying "Do you need to stop at home and pick up some clothes and other things?"

Before Sakura could answer, Taiga did it for her saying "I'll take care of that; don't worry. Just be there to pick her up after school in that thing you call a car ok?"

Taiga then looked at the clock and blanched before grabbing Sakura's arm and saying "Speaking of school we need to hurry Sakura or we'll be late."

Just like that, the meeting ended. Paying the girl's tab Chimi muttered "Those poor students."

What?" Chin asked.

Looking the much smaller man in the eye and smirking a bit he replied "Taiga didn't have breakfast."

"Oh…oh damn, those poor bastards." Chin said lowering his head in prayer for them. It was well known among the Fugimura Group that Taiga's inversion impulse was connected to her hunger and so, acted up when she was hungry. Thus, could be…testy when she hasn't eaten one such incident was when she broke a man's hand for being too slow delivering her fast food.

Chimi nodded _'Poor bastards indeed.'_ He thought all the while wishing he could be there to watch the carnage unfold.

* * *

Shirou hung up his cellphone and sighed. He'd called Nee-chan hoping she could send **_her_** with books on subjects he'd tried and failed to learn previously due to his constant migraines. Naturally, she wanted details on the cause of his condition and upon telling her it was caused by his locket, she insisted upon coming herself much to his worry. Though she did promise she would bring all the books of magic she'd tried to teach him from over the years. He knew there was nothing he could do to ease her pain; as long as humanity kept advancing technologically, her very existence would lessen by proxy.

Needing to clear his mind; Shirou headed to the dojo. Once inside the naturally lit room with its polished wooden floor Shirou felt himself calm. On the wall opposite the door were both racks full of wooden and steel weapons sitting ready to be used as well as a shelf full of books on both philosophy and tactics on combat. On Shirou's far left was an area full of weights, with a surround sound system on the opposite end of the room.

When he told his friends in Misaki about his dream to become a hero he expected to be laughed at…instead, they took him completely seriously and gifted him with both books and training tools over the years. One of his favorite books was the Go Rin No Sho, or Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi.

Musashi taught that one should not have a preference for any one particular weapon be it a Staff, Spear, Katana, Wakizashi, or Dao. He also had a unique method of teaching the simultaneous use of the katana and wakizashi and that is to learn to use two katana first and then replace one with the shorter blade, citing _"-if you can do such with two longswords, then there is no reason you cannot also do the same with both a long and shortsword or two shortswords."_

Shirou preferred the twin shortsword method truth be told, though he was as equally proficient in both twin longswords, staffs, spears and broadswords. However, because he practiced using various weapons and also lacked a proper teacher in all but the sword, he was slightly below average in the use of all of them. Still, he was fine with that. Being a hero shouldn't be easy anyway right?

These thoughts in mind he went to the weapon racks and took down two shinai before heading over to the stereo system and turning it on, wanting some music to work out to. As soon as the first few notes filled the air, Shirou identified the song it was "Octavarium" by Dream Theater, a band that **_she_** liked and gifted him several of their albums on an I-pod and the surround sound one Christmas. Not that he minded, he liked the band, and loved the I-pod and surround sound system.

…It's just that; for every kindness she shows him, Shirou feels terrible. When Shirou met her nine years ago, he thought her to be a stunningly beautiful, kind, and strong woman. Like a shield-maiden from the Norse tales of old. He still thinks that; but then he did something, and now…

Shirou shook his head, not wanting to dwell on the past sins he committed as a child. So instead; he went to the center of the room and began to practice his kata's. He soon lost himself in the movements, striking at unseen foes and blocking some imagined blows, while deflecting others. He turned; envisioning foes attempting to attack him from behind, only to find his shinai blocked by another. Shirou was instantly snapped out of his trance and looked up to see who was holding the shinai and found Altria smiling at him.

"Altria?!" he asked both startled and confused.

"I heard an alluring song and decided to find the source, only I not only found the source of the song but you practicing the sword as well. I thought you could use a sparring partner so I joined in. Is that ok?"

Shirou hesitantly pointed out she was several times stronger and faster than he was, and if they sparred he was likely to get hurt, only for her to alleviate his concern by saying "I can forcibly lower my stats to acceptable levels Shirou."

Upon hearing this he readily agreed, and thus the two stood across from one another, each on one side of the dojo. Saber had a single blade in a two handed grip held forwards at her waistline while Shirou took one of the two traditional Niten Ichi-ryu stances; back straight, knees slightly bent with the blades held at forty-five degree angles from the body firmly, but not tightly, in his hands with his wrists loose and flexible.

All was silent for a long moment as Master and Servant stared one another down, both waiting for some form of signal to attack. Suddenly; the gentle cry of a bird was heard and that was seemingly the signal the two were waiting for, as they both charged in that same instance. Saber who had lowered her stats to roughly half that of E rank all around, was five times faster and stronger than her master being a mere human.

But Shirou was no fool, before they charged one another, he'd reinforced himself as much as he dared. Still though, his opponent was a Servant and even with his reinforcement, she was easily five times faster than he was. This is why Saber's redheaded master was sent flying towards the wall by a stab into his diaphragm. Thankfully; Saber caught him before he impacted but that did nothing to soften her blow which had left him severely winded.

"Are you alright Shirou?" she asked, looking at him with her green eyes filled with concern.

Between the coughing and wheezing Shirou managed to nod and get out "Y-Yeah, I'm fine Altria. Don't worry, you just caught me off guard is all."

He could tell by the look on her face she wasn't fully convinced and so he changed the subject and asked "Where are the others?"

Saber looked away as she thought for a moment before she said "Lancer said she needed to take care of something in town and promised to return by lunch, Assassin said she wanted to become more familiar with the landscape and decided to go with Lancer in order to scope out the town, and Caster is currently in your shed; setting up her territory she said you wouldn't mind."

Chuckling in an awkward kind of way due to the Servant of the Spells antics, he then cleared his throat and said "How about some tea? I've been meaning to ask some questions and things have been kind of hectic lately."

Smiling cutely, Altria nodded mutely and soon enough the two soon found themselves sitting on the porch overlooking the garden, a pot of green tea and rice crackers in between them as they sat on pillows in the crossed-legged Agura position. After taking a sip of the tea he prepared and allowing the Servant of the sword to do the same, Shirou turned to her and said "Alright since we both have questions, let's do this. I'll ask one, you answer as best you can and then I'll do the same for you. Sound fair?"

Saber nodded regally accepting the terms "You first." She offered.

"Beauty before age." Shirou shot back jokingly.

Raising a thin eyebrow with a mischievous smirk on her face, and her eyes twinkling with mirth, Saber said coyly "What makes you think you're older than me?"

Shirou was dumbfounded for a moment, he could practically feel gears in his brain screech to a halt upon realizing what she was insinuating. _'But she's a year younger than me at least.'_

Stuttering out as much caused the knight to nod sagely and reply "That is true indeed, I…made a choice for my country at the tender age of sixteen and in doing so, my life was forever changed. One of those changes was a form of immortality. I was like this for a good few centuries before deciding I'd lived long enough and let myself age and die naturally."

_'__So I've got a Servant with a few centuries worth of experience on me yet looks younger…interesting.'_ Shirou thought.

Clearing his throat Shirou said "Well I do believe it's your turn to ask a question."

Blinking serenely Saber replied "So it is, very well Shirou, indulge my curiosity, just how much prana do you have access to? It must be quite a bit to be able to summon and maintain four Servants."

Shirou ruffled his head in embarrassment and said "Well actually that's kind of complicated Saber, you see, I have no memory before a fire ten years ago and I was saved by the man who would become my father, Kiritsugu Emiya. After that though I had migraines on an almost daily basis, after about a year of this he took me to see an old associate of his, in Miyazaki Town."

Shirou paused to take a sip of tea "After he did a bunch of weird tests he couldn't figure out was wrong but sent me out to make some deliveries for him as he was getting on in years…"

* * *

_Nine years ago Misaki Town_

_I just needed to head to the fancy houses on the opposite sides of town for Jinan-san. While it sounded easy in practice, Misaki was a town of twisting streets and alleyways, so there was no road that lead directly from one end of town to the other. I needed to follow the old sensei's map carefully lest I get lost. According to said map, I need to go down this alley then hang a left, then take the second right and then it should be a straight shot to my first stop. _

_I was so focused on reading the map that when I turned the corner I wasn't looking where I was going and bumped into something. Glancing up; I found myself staring at what looked to be three delinquents that got their fashion advice from old manga. The one in the middle who was the leader if the other two flanking him was any indication had bright red hair in a pompadour and was wearing an open white jacket with bandages wrapped around his torso, faded jeans and scuffed worn shoes. On his left was a boy in a red jacket white t-shirt and jeans with messy black hair, and on the right was a short boy around Shirou's height wearing an all-black outfit sporting somehow gravity defying spiky black hair. I picked myself up and dusted myself off and said "Sorry, I was looking at this map and not watching where I was going."_

_"__Clearly." The short one said snidely, only for the one in the red jacket to smack him in the back of the head and say "Shut it Hiei, he's just a little kid."_

_The now named Hiei glared at the taller boy and said "Do that again Urameshi and you'll end up shorter than the boy when I cut your legs off."_

_Urameshi rolled his eyes and said "Sure you will-"He then turned to me and asked "You lost kid?"_

_Shaking my head I replied "I don't think so."_

_Urameshi nodded and said "You should be careful though kid; all kinds of creepy people like to hang out in alleyways."_

_'__Like you three?' I thought blandly._

_The boy's safety is not our problem Detective." The grumpy midget said before turning to the so far silent member of the trio, the boy with the Pompadour and asking "Which way Kuwabara?"_

_The redheaded Kuwabara scratched his chin and then said pointed in a seemingly random direction saying "This way, I think."_

_"__What do you mean you think; is all that hair suffocating your spiritual sense?" Hiei seethed before slightly unsheathing a until then hidden sword and finishing sinisterly "Perhaps your in need of a haircut?"_

_The tense moment was broken by an angry female voice saying "What exactly are you Three Stooges doing to that little kid?!"_

* * *

Shirou stopped speaking and sighed wistfully before taking a sip of tea before saying "That was my first meeting with someone who would change the rest of my life."

Much to his surprise it was the voice of Lancer who said "Who was this person Shirou?"

Glancing over and blinking in surprise; Shirou found that he and Saber were no longer alone. Sometime during his story; Lancer, Assassin, and Caster had taken up seats as well as cups of tea on his left. "Umm, when did you three get here?" he asked.

"During your reminiscing Shirou. Caster replied cheerily.

_'__Was I that lost in thought?_' the third-rate magus wondered before turning to Lancer and asking "How did your errand go?"

Frowning slightly, the green haired Servant of the Lance, huffed shook her head disparagingly, and replied "Not as well as I'd hoped but Assassin got to know the landscape so it wasn't a total loss."

Shirou wanted to ask just what her errand was; but it might've been personal, so instead, he turned to Caster and asked "And you Caster? Have you gotten settled in, in **_my_** workshop?"

"Yep! I even managed to make some talismans that boost magic resistance here you go everyone!" she said happily completely missing the sarcasm in Shirou's statement or otherwise choosing to ignore it.

_'__She's just too helpful to stay mad at.'_ Shirou groused as he accepted one of the paper talismans glancing at it for a moment before getting an idea and asking "Hey Misukume, can you make other talismans too like say, out of stone?"

Nodding with her ears and tail twitching she replied "Yeah, no problem why do you ask?"

Smirking Shirou replied "I've got a little project for you later is all."

Clearing her throat Saber said impatiently "I do believe you were in the middle of a tale that explained your prana capacity Shirou?"

"R-Right, sorry- where was I?" Shirou said only to stop when the sound of a doorbell was heard in the air, followed by a brief rapid humming noise.

The Servants were immediately on edge and Saber half stood and said "Someone is here and two of them are powerful magi."

"It seem continuing is no longer necessary, you're about to meet her yourselves." Shirou said while getting up and making his way to the front door.

Shirou sighed internally moments before he opened the door, the second he did; he was nearly knocked over by a red, white, black, and blue blur that proceeded to pat him down while shooting off rapid-fire questions in an anxious concerned tone of voice.

Shirou are you alright? Why was that amulet giving you headaches? Do you think it was from the Old Man's enemies like the Einzbern or something-"There was then a brief pause then, as **_She_** glanced up and noticed the other four people in the hallway before turning back to the teen and saying in a dangerously calm tone "Shirou, would you mind explaining to me why there are not one, but four Servants in your house?"

Sighing through his nose as the redhead looked out his still wide open door and saw at the two other people _**She**_ had brought with her. One was a woman in her late thirties with a stoic face like a serene pond black eyes, straight dark hair that went down slightly past her shoulders, wearing a black simple looking Elizabethan dress beneath a dark furred shawl with an equally fuzzy dark furred cap on her head along with gloves, and sporting a unique air of mystery about her.

The man next to her holding four large suitcases by contrast was completely ordinary if didn't know him personally. With his seemingly normal messy black hair and dark green almost black eyes along with the formal coat, blue tie, and beige pants he was wearing he looked more like a banker than anything; but that couldn't be further from the truth.

Smiling Shirou said "Soujūrou-nii, Alice-nee won't you come in? I just made a pot of tea and its cold out there."

Smiling at causing a ripple to cascade across her usually stoic face, Alice Kuonji smiled slightly replied in a serene tone "That sounds lovely Shirou-kun thank you."

* * *

Minutes later three magi, four Servants and one mundane were sitting around the table steaming cups of tea next to each of them. The four Servants he summoned took up positions beside their master while the guests occupied the other end of the table, with what he considered his greatest sin in the middle in between his adoptive older brother and sister.

She was no less stunning than she was nine years ago, long red hair that trailed on the floor, like the red strings of fate, strikingly contrasted by her bright sky blue eyes, and wearing a half open white and black trimmed blouse that just barely showed off the hem of the sports bra she was wearing as well as completely bearing her toned stomach to the elements, disconnected black sleeves on her arms held there by two metal rings, ripped blue jeans, and combat boots. She was Aoko Aozaki the Fifth Magician and sole practitioner of the Fifth Magic, Magic Blue, which had the ability to control the flow of time.

Currently she was glaring at him over her tea cup as she took a sip and once she lowered the delicate china to the provided saucer, there was a frown on her face as she said "Would you mind telling me why there are four Servants in your house _Shirou-kun_?"

Shirou knew by the way she said his name that it was not a request but an order. Sighing through his nose Shirou replied "That's because the Grail War has started obviously Aoko-chan."

Her right eye twitched in response. He knew that it annoyed her when he pointed out the blatantly obvious, but seriously what else could he do in this case? Then again she might be annoyed because he was pointing out something that should be obvious to everyone but him, as neither the Old Man, nor Alice-nee, or Aoko had ever told him about the Grail Wars that were held annually in Fuyuki.

Thankfully Alice diffused the situation "Clearly the Grail War has started up again. Yet it is fifty years too soon and you, Shirou-kun, have more than the one allotted Servant. Why is that?"

In response Shirou shrugged and replied "I don't know Alice-nee, but if I had to guess it has something to do with my condition."

Clearing her throat Lancer said "Master has some illness?"

Only for Alice to shake her head and say "Not an illness per say no, but for reasons unknown all of his major nerve bundles have been turned irrepably into E minus rank quality and A+++ quantity magic circuits. However, there are 217 major nerves in the human body and, combined with his original B+++ rank quantity E-rank quality circuits, he has access to 1,355 units of prana. More than enough to sustain four Servants, with or without the grail as backup."

Alice hummed to herself in thought for a moment, before she nodded minutely and said "That would do it, yes. But still, unless you had a catalyst that somehow correlates to all four of them at once-"Alice waved a hand vaguely at the summoned Servants before continuing "There is no way you could've been able to summon them simultaneously."

Shirou shrugged and replied "I didn't have anything weird on me. Just the locket and my keepsake."

As if a light had gone off in her eyes Alice said "Shirou, do you still have the keepsake, can I see it?"

Nodding Shirou stood up and, reaching into his pocket pulled out the odd little piece of art he'd always kept on him as a keepsake and handed the twin shards to her, the thing having been broken by its harsh treatment yesterday. Examining it for a moment said Alice "Somehow Shirou-kun, this thing is a three way catalyst. Its body is made out of magically infused clay that is at least eighteen-thousand years old from the Middle East, the mirror shard also magically infused, is Japanese in make and is one-thousand-three-hundred-twenty years old. The last thing I'd only figured it out because it was broken but I noticed tiny bits of strange glimmering metal encased in the clay that seem to have anti-magic properties, and are over five hundred years old."

As Alice listed things off, Lancer, Caster, and Assassin flinched respectively. Alice, as well as Aoko and Shirou took that as silent confirmation that the trifecta catalyst was used to summon them. Which left only Saber as the unexplained summon. "Shirou, do you think she is connected to…_that item_?"

Bewildered with eyes widening he replied "I suppose it's possible but…"

Sighing in annoyance Aoko looked at Saber and said "Oi, Saber right?! Your name wouldn't happen to be King Arthur Pendragon would it?"

Glancing at Aoko from the side, like a hawk issuing challenge Saber replied stiffly "I am of the Saber Class yes, and I see no reason to reveal my true name to someone who could well be an enemy master. And for that matter, what is your relationship to our master woman?" Saber asked in that same cool manner causing the other three to agree with her.

Raising an eyebrow Aoko glanced sharply at Shirou and said "I see you're working your charm on them already Shirou. Planning to add persudo heroic spirits to your harem?"

"Not funny Aoko." Shirou said flatly.

"Not joking, or do I need to remind you of a certain curry-loving priestess, who sends her love by the way." Aoko finished darkly while glaring at the redhead who squirmed in his seat.

Ignoring him muttering something like _'it's not like that between us.'_ Aoko turned back to the female troupe of servants who were seething at being ignored and Aoko said in no uncertain terms "Alice and Soujūrou are Shirou's adoptive older brother and sister…**_I_** however am his **_fiancé_** by magically binding contract." She finished putting emphasis on her position as his wife to be.

The room was dead silent for a moment and you could feel the surprise and shock emanating from the four godlike beings as they sported gob smacked looks for a moment before they yelled as one **"WHAT?!"**

* * *

Sakura found that Chimi-sans place was nice and homey, spacious just like Sempai's place. However, unlike Sempai's which gave off an inviting air, Chimi-san's house had a slight…foreboding to it, it held a sense of silence about it; though nowhere near as oppressive as the Matou household, more like reverent, like entering a church or a library. All in all, it gave off the same feeling of its owner strong, silent, and not wanting to be bothered.

Sakura didn't mind however as despite all of that Chimi had deigned to take her into his home for the next two weeks and even took her to the market allowing her to pick up anything she thought she may need for meals at his expense. When she took her supplies into the kitchen; she found all the counters covered in a fine layer of dust, showing that the kitchen hadn't been entered or used in some time. When she open the fridge the foul smell and sight of rotten food greeted her. It was then that Sakura knew that like her Chimi-san was hiding some deep dark pain behind his gruff exterior. She silently vowed to herself that she would do what she could to help both him and Sempai…

So, after dinner that night Sakura crept out of the house and to the local cemetery which thankfully was quite close by. Once among the graves and headstones she walked along, silent as a shadow until she came to a large mausoleum and taking out a piece of chalk, began drawing a simple magic circle. Having no catalyst this time she had to rely wholly on the grail to provide her the best servant suited to her…and so she began the chant.

**_"_****_Silver and iron to the origin. Gem and the archduke of contracts to the cornerstone. The ancestor is my great master Schweinorg._**

**_The alighted wind becomes a wall. The gates in the four directions close, coming from the crown, the three-forked road that leads to the kingdom circulate._**

**_Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill). Shut (fill)._**

**_Repeat every five times._**

**_Simply, shatter once filled._**

**_ ――――_****_I announce. _**

**_Your self is under me, my fate (doom) is in your sword. _**

**_In accordance with the approach of the Holy Grail, if you abide by this feeling, this reason, then answer._**

**_Here is my oath. I am the one who becomes all the good of the world of the dead, I am the one who lays out all the evil of the world of the dead._**

**_You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence, O keeper of the balance ―――!"_**

There was a great flash of black light, and when it finally cleared there stood her new Servant. Clad in a black robe and a cowl that completely hid its features that itself was covered in dull grey medieval armor, the most distinctive piece of which was a spiked iron helm on his head giving the spirit a semblance of a face. Upon his left hip was a sheathed blade that emanated an aura of malice as well as a dagger that gave off an equally sinister feeling. Choking back the feeling of terror she felt upon looking into her servants' empty hood, Sakura waited for it to introduce itself. She almost lost control of her bladder when he spoke in a whisper-like hiss akin to the steel at his hip slowly being drawn from its sheath he said **_"I am Servant Rider. I have come forth at your summons and I ask of you, are you my master?"_**

* * *

Medea didn't know how it happened, but the energy required to maintain assassin had lessened considerably, according to the information provided by the Grail, such a thing should only be possible if the backup system of the grail activated.

_'__Which means someone, somehow summoned more than one servant.'_ Medea mused.

Still regardless of how it happened she shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and take this opportunity to further enhance her defenses. And so, Medea of Colchis, Servant Caster of the 5th Holy Grail War summoned yet another Servant.

When the chanting was done and the light dimmed, the person who stood before he looked as if he belonged in the modern era. Standing at 6'2 and clad in some kind of black and red armored bodysuit complete with a white-eyed hood that completely concealed his face with two swords crisscrossed on his back and two guns-according to the grail- on his hips. Across his right shoulder was a simple looking brown satchel.

The two stared at each other silently for a moment before the new arrival said "Uh I'm servant…Saber? I got summoned as Saber? Huh who'd of thought." He said with a shrug before he continued "Anyway Medea or do you prefer Caster, you summoned me yeah?"

Shaking herself out of her stupor, the Witch of betrayal drew herself up to her full height…which was still woefully shorter than her new Servant, and demanded "How did you know my name? I would've certainly remembered meeting someone as…oddly dressed as you."

Deciding to humor her and bending down to her eyelevel Saber replied "Well my backstabbing magus, that's because I'm not from your time period, but I possess an ability to…see things from god's perspective so to speak."

Medea blinked from beneath her hood for a moment before she started and said "Oh, you're an augur one who receives visions from the Gods!"

Rubbing the back of his mask Saber replied "Eh, more or less."

He began to walk towards the living quarters of the Temple only to turn back and say "By the way what Route is this; Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, or Heaven's Feel? I need to know if I'm gonna do my job properly."

Medea who had started following him abruptly stopped, blinked beneath her hood, and then said "What, Route, I'm afraid I don't understand Augur can you be more clear?"

Shaking his head silently as if chastising himself Saber replied "Never mind cutie, at any rate let's get inside and we can discuss the shitstorm that is coming our way over some chimachanga's.

The only thing Medea could think as she followed her Servant was _'What in the name of the Gods is a Chimachanga?'_

* * *

"Are you sure this is a good idea Master?" Archer said doubtfully to Rin as she prepared to summon yet another Servant. Mostly because it could get in the way of his true objective.

Huffing and rolling her eyes Rin replied "Do you want to take on four Servants all by yourself?" She asked rhetorically.

Taking his silence as an answer; Rin began the chant Sakura and Caster herself had used minutes earlier and after the flash of light cleared she couldn't help but gawk at who she summoned.

He was 5'10 and completely covered head to toe in a red and blue body suit that itself was covered in a black web pattern, making Rin think this hero hand an affinity with spiders. This thought was only enforced by the tiny black spider emblem in the center of his chest. A chest, Rin noted that was incredibly chiseled and defined. The sound of Archer clearing his throat brought Rin back to the present and shaking her head she asked her new Servant "Wh-who are you?"

Me?" the figure said pointing at himself.

"No the other guy who just appeared in a flash of light." Archer quipped drolly.

"Well, I'm just the Friendly Neighborhood Archer, that you summoned Master." The masked man joked back, causing Rin to groan and Archer to smirk and think '_This may not be so bad after all.'_

* * *

Illya was both annoyed and elated at the same time. She was annoyed for several reasons, the first of which being that the plane she was supposed to fly in to Fuyuki had a layover in America for a day meaning she, Sella and Leysritt had to find a hotel for the night rather than staying in the Fuyuki Castle like they were supposed to. It didn't matter that they bought out the penthouse suite, it was true what they said there was just no place like home. Not that she missed Einzbern Castle in Germany. They weren't her family; they were her captors and they expected her to die for their dreams. She would do so, but not until she got revenge on her Onii-chan for breaking his promise to her.

The second thing that annoyed her was the Master who summoned Saber also summoned a secondary Caster, Assassin, and Lancer! She knew because she was the Lesser Grail and it was her right to know just how many Servants had been summoned in this Grail War. Thankfully due to the Grail lessening the strain the pain on her now was non-existent.

She was elated however as she had, due to sheer chance found the perfect catalyst to summon her second Servant. It was an American comic book and if she didn't think the war was in the bag before. It would be soon. She used the standard Servant summoning chant but also added the line "Yet, thou serves with thine eyes clouded in chaos. Thou, bound in the cage of madness. I am the one who commands those chains."

The pain spiked briefly only to fade and when the light cleared, there he stood. Standing at 8'8 four inches taller than her Herakles and several times heavier too, was a largely muscled olive green skinned monster with a gold circlet on his massive brow accenting his short cropped black hair and green eyes. He was clad in gladiator armor along his right arm and from the waist down holding a crude gladius in hand.

The massive behemoth first looked left then looked right before finally looking down and noticing Illya. A look of bemusement crossed his face and he leaned down to her eyelevel nearly doubling over on himself to lock his green eyes with her red ones and saying "Did you Summon Berserker?"

Swallowing to clear her suddenly dry throat, Illya nodded before putting on an air of superiority and saying "That's right, and I expect you to do as I tell you understand?"

Smirking a little, the Green Giant replied "And if Berserker refuses?"

Illya made her Command Seals flair briefly saying threateningly "Then I'll make you."

"So you think those weak things can control the like of me?" he said standing up and towering over her imposingly with his arms crossed.

Smiling sweetly Illya shook her head and replied "Oh no, not at all-"

Suddenly a beast that was roughly up to hi neck in height and much less muscular appeared with a mane of wild black hair and skin that looked like it was chiseled from obsidian and holding a massive axe-sword carved of granite. The two berserks stared down one another for a moment before Illya said just as sweetly "But I think my first Berserker here might be able to persuade you, don't you?"

After a long tense moment the green monster threw his head back and laughed uproariously before saying "Very good, very good indeed Master! While I am no ma-woman's' slave, I respect your resolve!"

Calming down he said seriously "Berserker will smash for you."

* * *

Back in Fuyuki Church, Kirei found Gilgamesh sitting in the pews with a 'cat ate the canary' grin on his face, having just come up from the basement. Upon seeing such a pleased, content look on the King of Heroes face, the priest couldn't help but ask "What has you so pleased Gilgamesh? Did you find a fine wine?"

Chuckling the Golden King replied "A fine wine, a fine wine Kirei? Oh no my tragic playwright; this is something even the finest of wines in my vault couldn't bring upon me. The Grail has truly enacted a miracle and done something I never thought possible."

"Oh?" the false priest intoned, knowing the King would indulge his curiosity.

"Yes indeed for it has reunited me with my greatest treasure…my one and only friend has been returned to me."

It took much to surprise one who had been an executor of the church, but the return of one who was capable of fighting on par with the King of Heroes and according to legend their battle shook the very heavens and earth itself was more than enough to do it.

"Gilgamesh, I must ask that you not engage Enkidu in combat. To do so would not only reveal the world of magic but also-"Kirei promptly shut his mouth when Gilgamesh glanced at him with a frown on his face.

The frown still on his face he said "You overstep your bounds playwright, it is your job to entertain the king, not give him orders. No one gives the king orders."

The overseer of the Grail War promptly bowed and said "My apologies but I am just doing my job as the Grail War overseer."

Gilgamesh scoffed "Nonsense Kirei, if you cared at all about your job as an overseer you wouldn't have stolen Lancer, nor summoned that second Servant in the first place. Also, you may present her now." He finished almost lazily.

Bowing again Kirei stepped aside revealing a short young woman no older than eighteen or taller than 5'3 with short golden blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a scandalously short blue dress beneath clearly feminine steel battle armor with an overly large belt around her waist, and brown leather boots that rode up to her knee. On her left arm she carried a silver round shield embossed with a flaming golden tree.

She took two steps forward and slammed her free fist against her chest before bowing to the Golden haired king of heroes and saying "Hail Gilgamesh King of Heroes! I am Servant Defender.

_'__Yes-'_The Golden King of Uruk thought _'this shall be a grand second act indeed.'_

* * *

**Chapter length: 10,400 – Date Completed: 10/31/14**

* * *

**AN: Trick or Treat Smell my feet, give me something good to read! Hello and Happy Halloween everybody I do hope you enjoy my treat to you all. So no tricks (Flames) ok? But if you want to give me a treat in kind, a review will more than suffice in that regard. **

**Now, I'll be trying to update this fic every couple of weeks, but considering the Holiday Season is about to start, I'm not making any promises I can't keep, so if this doesn't update in a 'timely manner' its cause it's the holidays folks!**

**That said, I do hope you all enjoyed the chapter and till the next one, Bubbajack out! Peace!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A Spark of Madcraft**

**By: Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Genius Girl, or anything else that may or may not make it into this fic.**

**Ch.3: The rules are simple, let the best win.**

_"__The rules of fair play do not apply in love and war."- John Lyly's 'Euphues' (Original love and war quote)_

* * *

Shirou woke up the next morning in a bad mood and sporting a faded black eye and clutching his left arm in pain, thanks in part to Aoko's announcement and Caster's reaction that involved a move called polygamy castration fist, which was funny as it amounted to several high powered kicks and not a single punch thrown. Thankfully for him however; Lancer decided to intervene when Caster started getting rowdy and swiftly materialized and bound her with a golden chain from head to toe, even going so far as to cover her mouth.

Once the Servant of the Lance had the Servant of the Spell bound and pinned to the floor in this manner she said coolly "That is quite enough Caster; while finding out that Shirou is betrothed is surprising, you're taking the news like an immature child would and endangering him. Not only is this unacceptable, but it also changes nothing. Maybe you should act more mature and less like a wild animal, ne?"

At that last sentence Caster jerked as if she had been slapped and glared up at her fellow Servant only to be met with a gaze that held complete and utter disapproval. Caster's ears and tail swiftly lowered in shame before she silently and meekly nodded.

Nodding silently herself, Lancer then sat caster back up before turning to Shirou's guest and bowing saying "I'm sorry I didn't act sooner, but I was surprised by Aoko-san's announcement."

Saber for her part turned to Shirou and shamefaced bowed a little and said "I too apologize Shirou, it is my job to protect you and now you are injured in your own home." She lamented as when Caster attacked, she flipped the table, the edge of which ended up hitting the poor redheaded magus in the face, causing his eye to swell shut.

"But on the bright side-"Assassin said as she suddenly reappeared balancing several food trays on her arms and along her back, forcing her to bend at a right angle as she smirked a little bit- "I saved dinner."

Once the table was set back up and the food passed back out, and with Caster still in chains but with Shirou now sitting across from his servants staring down a nervous Caster, with his mouth a thin arrayed in a clearly annoyed thin line.

Sighing through his nose Shirou closed his eyes for a moment and, an otherworldly feeling seemed to enter the room, when he opened his eyes they seemed to burn like coals and his voice held much more weight than usual and it almost seemed as if a king or something more had taken his place as he said "What just happened _cannot_ happen again! We have enough enemies outside this house without having to create more within it. Now, I'm sure you Aoko-chan, Nee-chan and Nii-san have had a long day of travel so they can feel free to use the facilities, I will be in the dojo if anyone needs me. But before that-"

He then closed his eyes and sighed slightly and the feeling of otherworldliness and royalty seemed to fade or go back to sleep as Shirou opened his eyes again and reached over and rubbed Casters head, scratching her behind her ears and making her whine piteously, her tail wagging as he said calmly "You need to stop worrying Cas-ko. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, and if I do go somewhere, I'll always either leave a note or be back by dinner, because someone needs to feed all of you."

With his peace said Shirou made his way out of the dining room towards the dojo. After he had gone Aoko said what everyone else was thinking "What the hell was that?!"

"Even more importantly, did Shirou just call us gluttons and incapable of cooking before leaving the room?" Saber added ire fleck in her tone as she glared at the hallway that her master just left down.

Thankfully their voices carried allowing Shirou to hear them, plus reinforcing his ears didn't hurt either.

The strangest part however was when he laid down to sleep that night, for that night he had a very odd and disturbing dream.

* * *

_He knew something was off as soon as the dream started, usually Shirou dreamt of swords or various fabulous machines, sometimes both simultaneously but this time he got the distinct impression he was looking at someone familiar through someone else's' eyes…This person bore a kingly appearance. He was tall, tan skinned with slicked back white hair and silver eyes wearing a strange tyrian-purple cloak with silver lining. The reddish-purple cloak covered his left side bore a strange symbol akin to an ankh along with bronze-black armor covered in runic markings. Hanging vertically on the right hand side of his back was a bronze and purple striped sheath which housed an unknown sword. _

_The scene shifted and showed the Fuyuki Docks which were currently being used as a meeting place between several heroic spirits and a few masters. One was a large red-haired man in a chariot with a squeamish scholarly looking boy at his side, a blonde haired green eyed girl that looked much like his own Saber, next to a beautiful picturesque woman whose hair and skin were white as snow and whose eyes were red like blood. Across from them were two heroes clad in a dark armored jumpsuit and holding a golden short spear and a crimson long spear and a knight covered head to toe in black armor and even darker shadows. Standing atop a streetlamp was a Servant clad in golden armor who gave off an arrogant aura._

_Suddenly and without warning, the chaotic black knight charged the female knight and her fae-like charge, only to be blocked by the white haired man who now somehow had a massive spear in his hands and used it to push the fell-knight back several feet, after which he leveled the spear at the rampaging knight and…pulled the trigger? _

_Yes, as the spear wasn't just a spear but also modified to be used as a gun as well, having a 'small' machine gun placed just below the blade. Firing the gun required two hands forcing the hero sweep his cloak aside and reveal what laid beneath his cloak. It was a mass of pearlescent silver in the shape of a human arm, whoever this person was he'd lost his left arm and replaced it with a Mystic Code._

* * *

Rubbing his still sore arm Shirou made his way to the kitchen only to pick up the scent of breakfast already well underway.

'Huh, now who could that be? According to Fuji-nee, Sakura won't be coming around till this thing is over so who-What the hell?!' he thought as he opened the door to the kitchen and found not only Caster, but also Aoko cooking breakfast…and they weren't killing each other, or blowing anything up!

"Did I get Kaleidoscoped last night or something?" he muttered in a daze.

Apparently, even muttering was loud enough to be picked up by Caster's sensitive ears as she quickly turned around with a surprised look on her face and sputtered "Oi, oi, oi, you're not supposed to be up yet! This is supposed to be a surprise apology breakfast out, out, out!"

Shirou easily found himself pushed out of the kitchen by caster's strength even if it was being used halfhearted and playfully. "But-"He tried to protest only for Aoko's voice to call from the kitchen "Be a good boy and wait at the table Shirou, breakfast will be ready soon."

He sighed in defeat; giving up and went to sit down but not before turning to Caster and saying "You look nice today Caster."

In a display of adorable awkwardness Caster blushed her ears frantically twitching as her tail twined around herself and she said shyly "Oh, so you like things like this huh?"

Casters outfit today consisted of more casual clothing. She wore a creamy white sweater that covered everything below her hips and slightly showed the hemline of her black panties, and was opened to the point of being indecent; revealing her bra and cleavage, and, she also wore black stockings and flats and her bubble gum pink hair was held in two loose twintails on either side of her head except for her bangs.

"Well I thought you looked nice in anything you wore honestly, but normal clothes and dresses seem to suit you somehow."

Caster smiled at his words and replied "Much like how biker clothes suit Assassin, simplicity itself suits Lancer, and simple if regal attire suits Saber?"

Shirou paused for a moment in thought before nodding and saying "Yeah, I guess so. But it's not really about looks for me."

A look of surprise crossed Caster's face as she said "Oh?"

"Oi, Bottlebrush!" Aoko's voice called from the kitchen "You can chat Shirou up about his sexual preferences' later, help me finish cooking breakfast damn it!"

Caster's tail bristled and she turned around in embarrassment and annoyance and shouted "I'm coming and I may have a fluffy tail but at least I don't dye my hair, idiot!"

"What; I didn't dye my hair you fluff brained moron, it got this why by my Magi-"Aoko's retort was cut off as the door swung closed, leaving Shirou smiling a bit and thinking '_It's nice to see those two getting along, though I would like to know how it happened.'_ He mused _'Although, Nee-chan could be scary when angered… yep that would do it' _he thought with a nod.

Inside the kitchen proper, Aoko had just finished putting the finishing touches on breakfast. While she might not be on Shirou's level (the boy was a three start level cook at the age of eight she mused) she was still a passable cook, according to him anyway.

"You know; he's going to ask why we're suddenly all chummy, right?" Caster said casually from right next to her, with several plates of food in hand.

Aoko for her part, scoffed "Knowing him like I do, he's already guessed the reason. C'mon it's time to pay the piper." She lamented taking a few plates herself before squaring her shoulders and walking out of the kitchen, plates in hand.

Shirou sat and ate silently for several minutes and both magician and servant waited for his judgment with baited breath. He finally swallowed his food and stared at the two neutrally for a long moment, long enough that Caster finally lost it and yelled "Well was it good, it was good wasn't it?!"

Shirou couldn't keep up his façade any longer, he finally smiled and said "You two did a very good job."

They both smiled basking in Shirou's gratitude only for the feeling to come crashing down as took another bite before saying casually "You must've really pissed off Nee-chan last night huh?"

Spines becoming ramrod straight as if they had been just struck by lightning, both the Magician and Servant shuddered involuntarily, with Aoko saying "It might not've been so bad if it was just her-"Caster interrupted then saying "But we pissed off Lancer, Saber, Assassin and that Soujūrou guy."

Shirou let out a whistle, to anger Nee-chan was one thing, to anger both nee-chan, nii-san, and his three other Servants…Shirou was inclined to pity them now.

Those thoughts were banished to the back of his mind when a voice to his left said "He's right; this is good. I mean, it's no chimichanga, but still…"

Shirou snapped his neck to the side and found a man in a thick red latex suit and red white eyed hood sitting next to him holding a bowl and a pair of chopsticks, which he promptly put down just as Shirou was about to say something and spoke again saying "Oh, by the way, pineapple."

_'__Pineapple, what does he-'_Shirou soon got his answer as the man seemingly tossed a ridged metal sphere that had a slight resemblance to said spined fruit. Somehow he knew what it was the moment he laid eyes on it, he also knew he had less than five seconds to find cover as it was a-

"GRENADE!" Shirou yelled before throwing himself at both Aoko and Caster and dragging the table with him, managing to get them against the wall, him against them, and the table against himself just before the grenade went off with a loud **_*BANG*_** and shrapnel sprayed all over the room.

Seconds later, Assassin, Saber, and Lancer arrived on the scene sensing another Servant in the house only to find the dining area in shambles, and the walls were pockmarked; but the worst area was the table or what was left of it as it was so full of shrapnel it had been reduced to splinters, and just behind it was a battered and bloodied Emiya Shirou. The three rushed to his side intending to help and assess the damage to their master only to stop when his eyes suddenly snapped open and he groaned in pain.

"Damn it that hurt." He ground out.

When he tried to move he was stopped by Assassin who placed a hand on his shoulder and said seriously "Shirou, you have several bits of shrapnel and wood splinters in your back. I would suggest you not move until we figure out how to-"She suddenly stopped talking when she noticed the bits of wood and metal being forced out of his wounds as well as the wounds closing on their own.

_'__Is he like me; with a healing factor, or is this magecraft of some kind?'_ she wondered as she silently pointed out the phenomena to her fellow three Servants with a subtle tilt of her head.

"Umm Laura-san, is something wrong?" Shirou asked taking their silence in a bad way.

Starting, Laura replied "No Shirou we are going to move you now, hang on."

He then found his assassin class Servant right in front of his face bending over and taking him by his arms, a consequence of this is that he had a view of her cleavage that he had little doubt Shinji would envy him for, However Shirou was a gentleman and did his utmost best to keep his eyes glued on Laura's face and not on her chest. He felt his other two Servants grab him by the legs and back respectively before the hulled him up as one and moved him in front of the miraculously undamaged tv.

After placing him down Laura looked down on him with concern and said "Stay here, and don't move, we need to figure out what's going on."

She then promptly turned on her heel and gave Caster a glare that could've made the devil himself cringe and snapped out "What the hell happened in here?! It's our job to protect him not the other way around!"

Caster bristled and responded harshly "You don't think I don't know that?! It all happened so fast, I didn't have time to react!"

"And yet somehow Shirou a magus, managed to put both of you in between the wall, himself, and the dining table before the grenade went off? I'm not sure if you're just terrible at making excuses or a bad servant in general, seeing as you needed our master to save you."

That was the last straw for the Servant of the Spell as she was on her feet in the blink of an eye, her amber eyes sharp and focused on Assassin, and baring her teeth with her ears flat, tail puffed up and straight, and hackles raised as dark red malignant energy collected around her hands and she spat in a dark almost bestial tone **_"Listen here you damn bitch-"_**

The fight was ended before it could begin when a magnificent blade was slammed into the ground in between the two, and saber shouted "ENOUGH! Were neither of you paying attention to what Shirou was saying last night? There can be no infighting here! We have enough enemies waiting outside to slaughter us-"She then looked back and forth between Caster and Assassin for a moment before finishing in a solemn yet serious tone "Either we stand together or we die alone."

"Well said Saber." Lancer commented who had her golden chain in hand apparently ready to step in and bind Caster yet again if things got out of hand.

"Well said indeed Saber, Aoko are you alright?" Shirou asked while sitting up.

The Servants shuffled uncomfortably in their haste to see if their master was alright and in Assassins' case, accuse Caster of weakness; they had forgotten to check upon the wellbeing of the other person in the room.

Picking herself up off the floor, she replied stiffly "I'm fine." She then stomped over to Shirou and bopped him on the head hard enough that if he hadn't done some hasty reinforcement beforehand he probably would've had a concussion on top of everything else as Aoko started berating him.

"What the hell was that about?! You're stupid heroics almost got you killed, I swear if you ever do anything like that in front of me again, as soon as I know you're ok I'll kill you myself, revive you, then kill you again, and keep repeating the process until you fear death like a normal person or me, whichever comes first."

Aoko started panting after her little tirade and once she did, Shirou said calmly "Are you done?" Aoko glared pointedly at him, but said nothing prompting him to continue "I did what I did Aoko because how could I call myself a hero if I couldn't even protect my fi-the person closest to me?"

Shirou then gave his Servants particularly Assassin a pointed look as he continued "Also, a hero is someone who protects others, so regardless of what Caster was supposed to do, I chose to protect her and I would do so again, and I would do the same for anyone of you, just as I expect you to do the same for me and each other."

He took a deep breath and let it out through his nose before he said "Also Aoko, I could think of worse ways to die. That said-"Aoko interrupted then saying "Whoa, whoa, like what?"

Smirking a bit he replied "Death by snu snu."

A sudden thrum filled the air and Aoko glared past Shirou directly into the eyes of Soujūrou who had just entered the room with Alice and growled out "Oi, Soujūrou, what have I told you about letting Shirou watch that damn Futurama show?!"

Gaining a look of terror on his face Soujūrou stuttered out "I-uh-um…damn it Shirou! What did I do to you man?!" he said before he bolted down the hallway, Aoko in hot pursuit.

Aoko skidded to a stop at the door and fished around in her pockets for a moment while saying "Before I forget Shirou a certain crazy old bloodsucker of a Plainswalker wanted me to give this to you."

Aoko then tossed Shirou a package wrapped in butcher's paper and twine in between which was a letter. Shirou was going to ask her what was in the package when he looked up, the only trace of Aoko he found were the last wisps of her red hair disappearing around the corner as she pursued Soujūrou. Moments later a scream of pain could be heard…

A scream that Shirou promptly ignored as he examined the package in his hands, it wasn't overly heavy, maybe a half a kilogram/one pound one ounce at most, and from the clinking sound her heard from within it was some kind of chain or had a chain attached to it. Shirou tentatively removed the letter from beneath the twine and read the inscription on the front.

To: One Shirou Emiya betrothed to one Miss Blue due to his own stupidity

From: Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg, Wizard Marshal, Holder of the 2nd magic, and multiversal badass

Scoffing and rolling his eyes at that last bit Shirou opened the letter and read

_Dear Emiya-baka,_

_It seems you never cease to surprise me which; luckily for you, makes you interesting. It has come to my attention that recently you made a very important decision, a decision you made on the brink of death. In doing so, you have inadvertently become something more than what you once were, and also set in motion a chain of events that will be very entertaining for me as the chances of this happening were…well not very likely let's just put it at that. Enclosed in this package is something that will help you in the days to come should you be able to gain its loyalty, and will also lead to my further amusement at a later date. Good luck, and remember this above all else…_

_The Harem. Must. Be. Fed!_

After finishing the letter all Shirou could do was blink and think _'What the hell did I just read?' _

Sighing Shirou tossed the letter aside and opened the package. Inside lay an amulet. It was a rather morbid piece, hanging from a thick six inch silver chain, a hill of human skulls decorating the top with bones crisscrossing and creating a web pattern which held a massive emerald the size of a closed fist in place. Even if Shirou wasn't a magus; he would've still been able to tell that amulet was magical as the gemstone cast a neon green glow that Shirou found slightly eerie.

Shirou held the amulet up to eye level to study it closer and he found green swirling fog in the depths of the gem. As he stared the fog shapes formed, shapes of creatures by the score ravaging world after world. Of great artifacts made of the flesh and bone of the first race they defeated, they swept through world after world like a malignant cancer never stopping, never ceasing in their crusade until they were betrayed from within by four of their own, who with the help of some sort of counterbalancing force, these four managed to kill billions if not hundreds of trillions of their kin…

Shirou suddenly jumped when he felt someone shake his arm. Turning on his heel; he found Saber staring at him with concerned green eyes. Upon seeing she attained his attention she asked worriedly "Shirou is everything alright, you seemed lost once you stared into the gems depths."

"Sorry about that Altria, I got lost in thought for a moment. But now is not the time for that, now we need to fortify this place against further enemy attack and come up with a battle strategy-"Shirou then began to pace back and forth talking as he did so with his Servants following him with their eyes "Alright you four; it seems someone decided to try and off, Aoko, Caster and myself at 0730 today. The assailant was wearing all red and black combat attire with a white-eyed red hood and two katanas crisscrossed on his back suddenly appeared and-"

Shirou stopped talking when he turned and happened to catch the look on Laura's face. She was snarling like an enraged wolf, bearing her teeth and the claws on her hands had popped out with a *snicket* as every muscle in her body was coiled and tensed, like an animal wanting to tear into prey.

Looking into her currently savage eyes Shirou said calmly "Laura, do you know this person?"

Her breathing heavy and ragged Laura stared right back into Shirou's eyes there was no fear there, no hatred, just concern, concern for her wellbeing…slowly Laura managed to calm down before she said "Yeah, yeah I know him, his names Deadpool…and he's the son of a bitch that killed me."

* * *

Meanwhile on the grounds of Homurahara Gakuen no less than five Servants were on the prowl. Currently, one such Servant was dealing with what he considered a minor inconvenience on his part.

Rider, who had been summoned by his Mistress in a graveyard last night was impressed the audacity of the girl if nothing else, and yet…

**_'_****_I do not understand why she pretends to act so kind to these sniveling worms! If she truly wished it, she could rule them all with little trouble. So why doesn't she…wait, it simply because she is unaware of what she is capable of? Yes, I sense much fear in her, and not even a fraction of that is of myself. I wonder what she could be so afraid o-'_**

The black cloaked Riders' musings were interrupted by his Mistress who contacted him telepathically, asking concernedly **_[Rider, is everything ok? You seem, distracted.]_**

Rider paused a moment, not just because he was considering her answer, but because he was very much unused to anyone showing concern for his wellbeing. Something like that hadn't happened for a very, very long time. After a moment, he replied through their link **_[I am fine Mistress, though I do have questions I hope you can answer for me?]_**

**_[Like what she asked?]_** Rider could feel the hesitance and fear through their bond, but pressed on regardless, he would not be denied **_[Like for example why it is you are supplying prana for another Servant but I am the only one protecting you at the moment, or the fact that, though you have access to such great power you refuse to use is…what do you fear master? Point me it its direction so I may slay it for you.]_**

**_[No!]_** She shouted all too quickly before calming and saying **_[I mean, that won't be necessary Rider, but thank you for the sentiment.]_**

**_[You're welcome Mistress.] _**He thought back before going silent, all the while thinking **_'Sentiment? No, I just want you at your strongest possible and it seems in order to do so, some people are going to have to die, and I'm going to have to break you. But that's fine; for much like a human bone, you'll only come back stronger for the experience. Who knows; you might even thank me for this one day…'_**

* * *

It was during the lunch that the Black Cloaked Rider found an opportunity of sorts. He'd not only discovered the identity of his master's other Servant, but also the reason why it wasn't under her control.

**_[Master…why is your original Servant under the control of a pathetic worm?] _**He questioned.

**_[Rider, please don't talk about Nii-san like that.]_** She humbly replied while caving in on herself.

**_'_****_So he is her brother is he? No, there's more to this the way she responded physically indicates some kind of abuse…rape perhaps?'_**

Deciding to test the waters he asked **_[He's been violating you hasn't he?]_**

If he'd had a normal sense of humor he might've laughed as he watched his master choke and sputter on the bite of food she just took while her 'friends' asked her if she was alright. After assuring them she was fine and that the food just went down the 'wrong pipe' she proceeded to tear into him.

**_[How, how do you know?!]_** She asked frantically.

This caused the Servant of the Steed to laugh dark and morbidly as he replied **_[The signs are obvious for someone who has seen them enough times as I have.]_**

**_[How can you speak so casually about being a rapist?]_** She asking as she blanched.

**_[Me, a rapist? Not I Mistress, but after my troops had conquered many a town in the name of my previous lord, who was I to…deny them the spoils of victory?]_** He asked.

She seemed lost in thought for a few moments after that and he let her think. After a few minutes she said **_[So you were a war leader, and you…allowed your troops to…take advantage of the women they conquered?]_**

**_[Correct, though I did not partake of such activities myself. But do not mistake that for kindness, I have done far, FAR, worse things than rape as the dream cycle will no doubt show you.]_**

Sakura was about to respond when she was approached by someone who for the last ten years or so pretended she did not exist.

"T-Tohsaka-sempai, do you need something?"

Smiling a false sweet smile that Sakura knew she always wore when at school, Rin replied "Yes I was hoping we might be able to talk after school, I need your help with something."

**_[State your terms here and now tavern wench. Do you seek an alliance or death?] _**Rider's voice suddenly cut in, and to Sakura's surprise Rin could apparently hear him too, if her eyes widening in surprise was any indication.

**_[How-]_** Rin tried to ask only for Rider to cut her off, saying **_[You do not need to know, you just need to answer my question. Now, why are you here?]_** he reiterated.

Rin narrowed her eyes slightly, probably about not only not knowing something but also being dismissed so easily, in the back of her mind Sakura was amused to see her oh-so-entitled-sister told to shove it for a lack of a better term.

**_[Fine, I was going to ask Sakura to peacefully surrender her command spells after school today-]_**

Again she was cut off by Sakura's Rider who said drolly **_[While your Servants kept me preoccupied no doubt? Denied, there shall be no surrender wench, and even if by some off chance you did get her command spells, I would never serve you willingly. Now; slink back to your hole, and do not bother us again unless you wish for an alliance.]_**

Rin scowled at being seen through so easily but also being dismissed as if she was inconsequential, but put on another false smile and said "Well, I'll see you after school ok Sakura?"

"Yes, Tohsaka-senpai." Sakura said dismally.

As she was walking away, Rin heard the voice of Sakura's Servant in her head one more time [**_An Oliphaunt that presents itself in front of a Dragons' lair asks for naught but death…So shall it be if you approach my Mistress again wench.]_**

After Sakura was sure Tohsaka was gone she said mentally **_[Why did you do that Rider? Now we'll have to fight her after school today.]_**

Much to her surprise she heard her Servant wheeze out a scoff and in his hiss-like voice replied **_[Do not worry Mistress, her Servants shall pose no problems for me, that I assure you. Though I believe it would be tactically sound maneuver if you called back your other Servant to defend you just in case.]_**

He could sense her nervousness and inquired **_[Is something wrong Master?]_**

**_[I can't call my other Rider back, she's stuck working for Nii-san at the moment. Due to a persudo-Command Seal in the form of a tome.]_** Sakura finally admitted at last.

The Black Cloaked Rider hummed to himself for a moment before he said **_[I see, I had assumed he had forced you to use a Command Seal on your original Servant to force her to protect and serve him. Well, no matter we shall simply have to proceed without her…for now.]_**

Although Shinji didn't know why, he suddenly shivered as he felt a chill go down his spine.

As he stared at him from beneath the depths of his cowl Sakura's Rider thought **_'Enjoy your taste of power while you can boy, for your days on this earth are numbered. I shall see to that, personally.'_**

* * *

"What in the name of Tartarus were you thinking Augur?!" Medea ranted as she paced back and forth in front of the red clad Saber Servant before suddenly stopping, turning on her heel, jabbing a finger at him, and continuing "By attacking a Master in his own home, you've quite possibly jeopardized our whole operation here! What's more he is the master that has four Servants according to you. So please, tell me what you were thinking by attempting to kill him, as if he find out where we are located we are doomed regardless of whether or not there are three of us here."

Causally cleaning out his ears through the cloth of his hood, Medea's Saber reached into his satchel searching through it while saying "Well ya see, I was thinking I'd raise a bit of hell and confusion amongst our enemies. I was thinking that; while they trying to figure out who I'm contracted too, they'll attack each other, and maybe, just maybe, they'll thin out their ranks for us. Failing that; at the very least, we'll probably get to see a few NP's which can be helpful. Where the hell is that damn thing?" he muttered to himself.

Medea was speechless for a good long moment before she said "That- is a very good plan. Forgive me for saying this, but I'm surprised you were capable of thinking of it."

Much to her surprise the Servant of the Sword replied "I didn't, it was Jacks idea. Damn where is it?" he muttered.

Blinking beneath her hood Medea asked "Who is this Jack person you speak of?"

"He's the guy in charge a higher power in a sense." Saber replied while he started pulling random items out of his satchel which included a 1952 edition of playboy, a rubber ducky, a pink tutu, a long piece of black rubber that Medea noted was in the shape of a human phallus, and chimichanga which he promptly wolfed down before sating triumphantly "Eurika! I found it!"

He then pulled his arm out of the satchel holding a bright yellow colored book. He then stood up and said "Go ahead and ask your questions you and I both know you got em."

"Is this Jack person a God, are we merely pawns to his whims and being toyed with for his amusement, and finally what does he want from us?" The Witch of Betrayal asked in rapid fire.

Clearing his throat; Saber replied "Well let me start off by saying Jack isn't a God, just a highly caffeinated insomniac who has a penchant for writing and an aversion for people. And we are merely characters' in his story."

Medea crossed her arms over her chest and remarked "So he is not a god, yet he controls our lives? You are not making a very convincing argument you know."

Shaking his head rapidly Saber replied "No, no, no! It's like…you had plays back in your day right?"

Seeing her nod he continued "Well that's what he's doing more or less, he's writing a play a piece of literature to entertain other people and we are the cast. Only, he can make us do whatever he wants because in his world, we don't really exist. In his world we are fictional, made up, characters whose lives were created solely for the amusement of other people."

"That's not possible! I remember my father, being forced to fall in love with that fool Jason, killing my brother, and everything that came after."

The left eye of his mask raised as if he had raised a skeptical eyebrow and asked "Oh really, then what was your mother's name? What did she look like, what was the name of your aunts, uncles, or grandparents Cerci and Helios notwithstanding, hmm?"

"That's simple my mother was-she looked like-my family…" A look of fear and horror crossed Medea's face as she muttered in fear "I can't recall any of them, not a name not a face, nothing. Why?"

Sighing and patting her on the shoulder with his free hand he said "That's because none of them were important to your legend. Hell, even Cerci and Helios were mainly backstory. That's why you can't recall them."

Medea then became irate "So my mother and my entire life leading up to my forced adoration with Jason was not important enough to be woven into a tale is that what you're telling me Augur?"

"Ya, you pretty much hit the nail on the head." He replied with a nod before suddenly brightening and saying "But don't worry! See Jack, he has a soft spot for girls like you that is when he isn't treating everything he writes like a Shakespearean play and making his cast suffer that is; and although he's gonna make you work hard to get it you have a good chance of getting a semi-happy ending this time around."

Enticed by her Servants words, Medea said promptly "Explain-please." She added as an afterthought.

He then handed her the yellow covered book he'd been holding for a time and said "Jack wanted me to give you this, because without it, well, we're fucked. So read that and do that voodoo that you do do so well boss lady."

Medea glanced at the cover of the book which was entitled _"How to Summon Phantasmal Beasts of the Millennial and Divine Rank for Dummies!"_

She frowned a bit at it being implied she was in anyway stupid, although she did perk up a little when she saw the crude if cute drawing depicting what could only be a wizard wearing a blue pointy hat covered in silver stars along with a red robe running for his life after he summoned a dragon.

_'__Cute. It seems this Jack person and I have a similar sense of humor, which either could be very good or very, very bad for me depending on his mood.'_ She mused.

"You got that right." Saber quipped offhandedly.

"Augur, did you just-"she then stopped and thought _'Did you just read my mind?'_

"Technically no, but I read the previous paragraph above so…sorta?" he replied with a shrug.

The Witch of betrayal rubbed the bridge of her nose and sighed while saying "This is giving me a headache. Still, I thank you and…Jack for your help. I am going to get started reading this time, and so long as you do not cause any further trouble, you may do as you wish."

"Sweet." He replied before reaching into his satchel and pulling out a small handheld device and saying "Alright Link, let's go save Zelda together cause you know, it's dangerous to go alone an all."

Medea began to walk away while opening the book only to stop and turn while asking "By the way; just how did you manage to leave the temple grounds when I bound you to the gate like Assassin?"

Not looking up from his device he replied "Easy, I took the gate with me."

This caused Medea to fully turn around and ask "How?"

Letting out a long suffering sigh, Saber hit a button on his device before reaching under his armor and pulling up a leather cord, upon the end of which was a sliver of red wood. A piece of red wood Caster realized was taken from the gate of the temple.

_'__It's an ingenious idea really.' _She mused_ 'I bound him to the gate, and so long as the gate stands so shall he. Thus if he keeps a sliver of the gate on him at all times, he is still connected to the gate and its leylines. It's like giving a rabid dog an infinitely long leash.'_ She surmised.

"Nice analogy." Saber muttered having already gone back to his game.

Shaking her head at her fellow Servant's unique ability Medea headed inside fully intending to make use of the tome given to her…

* * *

"And that's what happened Raiga-san." Shirou said having spent the last half hour telling the Oyabun of the Fujimura Group about the home invasion and attempt on his life while Aoko, Saber, and Assassin the latter two who'd requested being called by their Classes outside the house by his side. Blowing out some smoke from an antique pipe made out of unicorn horn and knocking the ashes into the tray with a dull *thunk* he refilled his pipe, relit it and took another puff before he said "So lemme see if I got this straight Emiya. It took you almost getting blown up during breakfast for you to finally mention you have a fiancé?"

Shirou let loose a groan inside his head and thought _'Of course that's what he gets out of the whole situation.' _All the while the third rate magus was nervously looking back and forth between his legal guardian and said fiancé who had been steadily glaring daggers at one another.

When Taiga came over for breakfast that morning and found his living room destroyed, she was of course concerned not only for his wellbeing but for the wellbeing of her stomach also. It was when she noticed Aoko and co that fit hit the proverbial shan. Shirou's surrogate big sister wasted no time in voicing her opinion on the fact that her little brother was engaged to someone who was eleven years his senior. Or twenty-two if the rumors about the first time she activated the Fifth were to be believed. The fact that Aoko responded to her comments by grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt and kissing him senseless didn't help matters either.

'Not that I didn't enjoy the kiss, but well-"Shirou was dragged out of his thoughts by Aoko suddenly saying in a high false cheery voice "Oh, Shirou-kun never mentioned me, not even once in ten years? Well, I'm sure being engaged to the Fifth Magician just slipped his mind, _right honey_?"

The way she said those last two words made Shirou suppress a shiver. But heroes in the making shouldn't be afraid to face danger, no matter what form it takes. This is why Shirou looked directly into Aoko's eyes and said truthfully "I didn't say anything because I was ashamed."

Aoko visibly flinched as if she'd been backhanded. "Ashamed? Your ashamed to be engaged to me is that what I'm hearing?" asked her voice taking on a hurt tinge.

Shirou shook his head "Ashamed to be engaged to you? No, you're a kind, strong, supportive woman I often feel like I don't deserve you. No, I'm happy being with you. I'm just not happy with how we became engaged in the first place."

Shirou suddenly found himself glomped as Aoko attempted to either smother him in her bust or flat out squeeze the air out of his lungs by force all the while saying "T-that was the sweetest thing you or anyone has ever said to me."

Suddenly being tapped on the shoulder Aoko turned to see a semi-serious and equally bemused Saber say "I do believe Shirou needs air Aoko-san."

Looking down, Aoko found Shirou was blue in the face. "Oh, shit! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" she apologized after letting him go.

Waving off her apology while coughing Shirou eventually caught his second wind and reaching into his pocket procured a folded piece of paper and handed it to Raiga saying "I need all the items on this list as soon as you can procure them."

Raiga took the list while pulling a pair of spectacles out of the sleeve of his kimono muttering "Eyes aren't what they were two hundred years ago-"putting them on before quickly scanning the list.

Glancing up from the list, Raiga cleared his throat before saying "We keep most of these items down by the docks in a storage locker, one of these items however, the wheels to be specific I can get ahold of if I overnight them from a…supplier of mine."

"By tomorrow then? That's more than agreeable Raiga-san, thank you." Shirou finished with a nod of appreciation.

Waiving off the magus' praise with a wave of his hand, the Oyabun of the Fujimura-gumi then snapped his fingers and moments later men who stood silent and still as statues on the fringe of the room moved forwards with a clay jug of sake and two cups. Pouring one for himself Raiga passed the other to Emiya and asked casually "So where are your other two servants Emiya, scouting for the enemy?"

Before Shirou could answer however Aoko interrupted asking seriously "Shirou, have you drank sake with Raiga before?"

Giving her a curious look Shirou nodded saying "Yeah I drink with him occasionally though I have no real tolerance for alcohol, why?"

Instead of answering the Fifth Magician asked yet another question "And when was the first time you shared sake with him Shirou?"

Though still thoroughly confused by this line of questioning Shirou replied "About a month after the Old Man died. Raiga-san told me that dad asked him to look after me and that I was technically the head of my household now. What's the point of this Aoko?"

The redhead glanced briefly at Raiga before locking eyes with her husband to be and saying slowly as if explaining to a small child "Shirou, when a Oyabun offers an outsider to their group sake and they accept it, they are officially considered an immediate member of that bosses 'family' and hold a high position in the organization."

Aoko then locked eyes with both Raiga and his granddaughter and accused "Isn't that right, Raiga-san, Taiga-chan?"

Raiga drained his saucer and refilled it before saying "Your woman is quite well informed Emiya. Yes, Miss Aozaki; Shirou has up until now unknowingly been a member of the Fujimura-gumi, specifically holding the rank of _saiko-komon (Senior Advisor)_ and in charge of vehicle maintenance. He makes a quarterly wage of 1,733,925¥ ($15,000), has a yearly salary of 6,936,300¥ ($60,000), and currently has a five year savings totaling 34,675,500¥ ($300,000). As his future wife, I'm assuming you would like to look at his accounts for yourself?" Raiga questioned in a business-like fashion.

"Later." Aoko said with a firm nod "Right now I need to know how you intend to handle an assassination attempt on one of your high ranking members."

Mirth entered the old gangster's eyes as he chortled "Ah so this is what you want to know eh? Well let me tell you Miss Aozaki, while we may be stronger than the average human, but we are no match for a Servant. However, we are more than willing to help locate Servants and if necessary eliminate enemy Masters. Also as I said before I am more than willing to supply Shirou with anything he may need to survive in this War."

Aoko didn't say anything for a moment then she nodded, just once, but seemingly satisfied. This caused Raiga to do the same and well and ask"Good, now I have a question, where are your other two Servants Emiya?"

"Caster and Assassin had a disagreement earlier so I decided as punishment they are to work together to help me with a project of mine." The redheaded magus replied.

Raiga nodded knowingly "Ah the old chain gang tactic, take two people that don't get along and force them on the same assignment together. Nine times out of ten, they come to a peaceful understanding and appreciation of one another."

"And the tenth time?" Altria who had been silent up to now inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"They'll kill each other." Taiga finished bluntly, taking a swig of sake herself.

* * *

Laura didn't understand Shirou's current request. He given both Caster and herself a 'special assignment' which involved assisting in crafting a Mystic Code he'd always wanted to create, but had lacked both the skills and resources to make for some time now. Caster for her part was in 'her' workshop utilizing all her skill and available power to create twenty-four talismans. Her assignment was to acquire the physical mundane items necessary to complete the Mystic Code.

She had to admit though, the list she was given didn't make much sense _'A barber chair, motherboard, brass cogs and gears, duct tape, glue, a USB cord two yards in length, a chain saw, and spinal tap needles? What are you trying to do Shirou?'_

Even though she may not like her class designation; she had to admit, it did come with perks. Like being able to sneak around unnoticed and 'barrow' needed materials. All but the spinal tap needles had been delivered to the confines of Shirou's shed. She was on her way to Amaterasu Hospital in Shinto to pick up then needles when she heard the sound of clashing blades coming from what should have been the empty school grounds of Homamura Gakuen. Using her Class Skill, she slipped onto the school grounds and decided to see what was going on.

"No way! How was he of all people summoned?" She then sniffed the air and cursed again before disappearing in a blur of speed only to reappear behind three terrified and confused school girls. Sneaking up behind them she put and arm around all three of them to prevent them from screaming aloud and whispered quietly but harshly "Listen to me! You need to move away from here quickly if either of those groups find you they will likely kill you on principle. Come with me, I'll keep you safe, ok?"

The three stopped struggling after that and the one in the middle that had silver blonde hair and glasses had slowly nodded, seemingly speaking for the trio. Laura loosened her grip slightly while saying "Good, now I'm going to let you go and you're not going to scream right?"

Again the girl in the middle nodded and Laura released her hold letting the three gasp for breath for a moment before she whispered "Alright, hold on."

Another of the girls, this one with dark hair, skin, and eyes; yet narrow slanted features which suggested she was of mixed African and Asian ancestry spoke up, saying sharply "Wait a minute just who the heck are-"

She didn't get to finish as Laura promptly picked up all three of them and jumped on top of the room of the building they were previously hiding behind before dropping them unceremoniously on the roof.

"Okay, that tears it who-"Again the girl was silenced by this time by her stoic-faced silver haired companion put a hand over her mouth and said said "The woman said to be quiet Kaede. I don't feel like dying just because you were being an overly noisy panther."

The third girl who had an air of sweetness and innocence about her that was compounded by her big doe-eyed dark brown eyes finally spoke in a voice that was both sweet as sugar and innocent as a child. "Umm, excuse me Onee-san, but exactly who are you?"

Glancing down at that battle which was, considering it was two on one was going horribly in the Web Heads favor. '_That Servant must have some incredibly high stats, A-rank at least to be able to take on both Spiderman and another Servant with no difficulty.'_

Glancing back at the girl in question she replied "I'm a part of a secret tournament that is going on in Fuyuki right now. I can't really say more without permission from my-"Laura paused after almost saying 'Master' settling instead for –"Handler. You can call me Laura."

She looked down again and saw that the red and blue spandex wearing hero was about to be impaled by the black cloaked enemy Servant wielding a flaming sword. She didn't think about how this would make the Grail War easier, or how she should likely attack both of the opposing masters while they are distracted. All she could think about was how her friend was going to die again and this time…she was going to have to watch it happen.

_'__No…Not again.'_ She thought as she launched herself off the roof releasing her claws with a *snicket* she landed just in time to knock aside the lethal thrust growling out "Hey Webs, mind if I cut in?"

* * *

Rin's two Archer's stood on either side of her on one end of the front yard leading into the school, on the other end of the yard standing still as a statue next to her estranged little sister, was the black cloaked servant, whose class and very identity was still a mystery. Deciding to be merciful, she called out "I'll give you one last chance Sakura, surrender your Command Seals and seek sanctuary in the Church with the Fake Priest. I don't want to have to hurt you little sister."

Sakura stared at her older sister, her older sister who, for the longest time, pretended she didn't exist. Now, only when the Grail War starts fifty years too early, and she has something that would assure her victory did she dare acknowledge their relation? What's more, she tried to appeal to that to get her to surrender.

How dare SHE.

How DARE SHE.

HOW DARE SHE.

Clenching her fist so hard, it bled, she thought **_'Is there no low she won't sink to? Does all she care about is the 'glory' of the Tohsaka house? Only calling upon me when it's convenient for her?' _**

**_"_****_Mistress?"_** Rider asked glancing in her direction.

Sakura's purple eyes hardened and although she couldn't see it, her servant could. Sakura's eyes flashed crimson red as she said in a dark commanding tone **_"Rider, destroy Rin, and her Servants."_**

**_"_****_With pleasure, Mistress."_** Rider replied as he unsheathed his blade before charging towards them in a burst of speed that destroyed the concrete beneath his feet and broke the sound barrier.

The red colored Archer's barely had time to react as the wraith barreled towards them. Rider had hoped to take out the Red and Blue Servant first, yet as he swiped at him with his blade, he threw himself backwards just in time to avoid being bisected at the waist.

Rider then delivered a kick to the fool's abdomen and sent him flying into a wall, he then turned on his heel to deflect a red projectile shot from the bow of the other Servant. Seeing the Archer looking into his hood, he scoffed and remarked **_"Fool, you just sealed your fate!"_**

Rider took great pleasure in seeing the look of dread cross, the crimson and black Archer's face, and even more as his body shook from fear. Although no one could see it; in his eyes danced sadistic glee as his blade was lit with the malicious Flames of Udûn. Flames that not only rendered the body a smoldering pile of ash, but also devoured the soul. Sending it to the deepest depths of hell upon consumption.

Yet something surprising happened. Usually when one gazed into Rider's 'face' they were stricken with inexplicable terror triggering their fight or flight response, filling them with so much terror they cannot fight back. Yet this crimson clad Archer though filled with fear, though shaking at the seams still managed to draw back his black bow and fire off several arrows in his direction, forcing him to deflect them with his blade.

**_"_****_Hmm, so this is the full extent of the power of a Heroic Spirit, is it? You fare only slightly better than those who thought they could best me in the past."_** Rider commented.

Rider was suddenly blindsided from his left by several fast moving dense globs of…something as he heard a far too chipper voice retort "Oh really, well you've never fought the Fantastic Flying Archers pal, Wringling Bros' has nothing on us."

Rider was then sent tumbling to the ground when he was kicked in the side as the red, blue, and black web patterned Archer now stood heroically with his hands on his hips.

Rider retorted by saying **_"You talk when you should be killing your opponent, insect."_** Before sending out a gout of demonic flame which he was able to dodge.

**_'_****_That shouldn't have been possible whit his current parameters.'_** Rider mused.

**_[I think he has an A+ rank in the Instinct skill Rider, be careful.]_** Sakura warned.

Rin meanwhile was also giving her servants Intel on the enemy **_[All right you two listen up; I'm not sure if it's due to a Personal Skill or a automatically activating Noble Phantasm, but the moment he initiated combat with that Servant that for the moment looks to be a Saber, all of your parameters dropped two whole ranks.]_**

**_[Umm, Rin, that's not good. I can dodge him, but not much else with my stats this low and EMIYA…] _**Spider-man began only to be cut off by his fellow Servant on what Rin had dubbed "Team Snark."

**[Don't worry about me, I can handle myself.] **EMIYA replied shortly.

This caused the masked superhero to look at him and somehow raising the height of one of his mask lenses while narrowing the other to make it look like he was raising an eyebrow at him he replied "Su~re you don't that's why I just had to come in and save your butt just then, right?"

"Stuff it, Web Head. Instead of wasting time talking, try and figure out this guy's weaknesses." Archer bit back while projecting a corkscrew shaped arrow and firing it at the Servant that had begun charging them as they quipped back and forth.

Rather than try and dodge the arrow that became a red bolt of light upon being fired, he slashed at it with his flaming sword, cleaving it clean in half in the process. The explosion that was given off hardly phased the cloaked figure as he merely rushed past the blast, using the explosion to propel himself forwards in the process.

Lashing out and using the hellish flames like a whip; Rider struck out at the red and black armored Archer, managing to score a blow across his torso that was slightly dampened by his strange armor. But not nearly enough to completely stop the blow as the smell of charred flesh soon permeated the air with its foul stench. He then turned his attention to the remaining Servant and advanced menacingly.

**"****Surrender now and your death will be swift, bug." **Rider promised.

"Umm how bout, no?" Spider-man then jumped backwards and landed feet first on the side of the wall before he swiftly shot out two lines of some kind of sticky substance and once they stuck to his downed companions' shoulders reeled him in like a fish on a line. Rider watched this happen and remarked **_"Interesting it seems you are worthy to bear that insect on your chest after all. But, you've over looked one thing."_**

Cocking his head to the side Spider-Archer asked "And what might that be tall dark and creepy?"

**_"_****_This, mindok ken do gol!" _**The Servant the spoke in a black and vile tongue that felt like it came from a dark time before man and should never have been spoken by a human tongue much less heard by human ears. It was all Spider-man could do to prevent himself from throwing up inside of his mask. This is why he was completely unprepared for the side of the building he was holding onto exploding hurtling both himself and his wounded ally to the ground.

"Ahh~oohff!" He yelled as he landed amidst the flaming debris that was once the entrance to the high school.

Dizzy and disoriented, all Spider-man could do was look up as the black cloaked fiend raised his flaming brand of a sword above his head and hissed **_"You will fall just like all the rest. No man can kill me."_**

The blade fell, Spider-man lowered his head in shame thinking _'Damn, this Servant thing is completely different than what I'm used to. If I make it out of this, no more pulled punches.'_

Then, as if God or whatever counted for a divine entity in this universe heard his dying thought, there was a clang of metal on metal and a very familiar voice asked coolly "Hey Webs, mind if I cut in?"

Snapping his head up he was shocked to find one Laura "Talon" Kinney standing in front of him holding off, that monster of a Servant's last attack with both sets of her arm claws held in an X pattern.

"Talon?" he asked incredulously.

"Assassin actually, but I think you should be moving Wallcrawler, don't you?" she asked before putting her foot on top of her opponents blade and attempting to force it down, only to seemingly falter as the enemy Servant forced her leg upwards. But much to Spidey's surprise, it was a feint on Talons part as she used the momentum of her opponent's attack to do a backflip by spring boarding off of the supposed Saber and using her foot claw to cut him from his stomach to his throat.

"Seriously Web head, I can't believe you had trouble with that guy, he was weak." She said after she righted herself.

"Umm Talon; not that I'm not happy to see you, especially seeing as you saved my butt and all but what are you doing here?"

Talon shrugged saying "I got summoned same as you I guess."

Spiderman blinked mask and all for a moment before he nodded and said "I see, and you helped out the enemy because..?"

"Felt like it." She replied shortly.

Spiderman raised a finger and was about to say something else; but decided to tackle Talon out of the way of being decapitated from behind instead. Both Servants looked up from the ground to find the black cloaked menace was once again standing, albeit this time using his sword as a crutch, and though she couldn't see it, she could feel the wrath being directed her way from within the folds of the hood.

Laura could feel his gaze on her as he said **_"You should know better than to get in-between a beast and its prey, lest you become prey yourself."_**

**_"_****_I'm not prey, I'm a predator."_** She replied calmly while sliding into an attack position, preparing to defend her friend again.

Letting out a wheeze-like laugh the Saber replied **_"Foolish girl, all that lives and breathes beneath the sun is prey to me."_** He then attacked her again with both hands upon his sword this time, and slowly, oh so slowly he was beating her backwards. Laura refused to willingly give ground of course; slashing at him every chance she got, but unlike the man she was cloned from, she herself did not have adamantium laced bones. Thus every two handed strike knocked one of her arms aside and it was only a matter of time before she couldn't defend at all…Then it happened; two strikes in quick succession that knocked both her arms aside and before she could move her enemies flaming vile blade was being pressed against her throat, burning on contact.

**_"_****_I told you girl, I am predator and you? You are nothing but my prey."_** He hissed as he prepared to take her head.

"Special delivery for Mr. Tall, Dark and Creepy, via Web Ex!" Came a shout to her left.

They both looked over to see the blue and red clad Wallcrawler swinging a red bolt of light around his head via two weblines. He then let it go and launched it like a shotput towards the Black Cloaked Servant, who tried to raise his sword to block only managing to divert the attack enough to hit him in the stomach instead of the heart as the impromptu missile lifted him off of his feet before slamming him into the ruined and burning school building.

Laura got to her feet to find Spiderman huffing and puffing from within his mask, his hands on his knees as he wheezed out "Damn that thing had some kick to it, nearly ripped my arms out of their sockets. You ok Laura?"

"Yeah, thanks for the save." She replied.

"I owed you one. So, I think it would be best if we went separate ways seeing as…well you know." He said awkwardly.

Giving him a hard look she said "You know I'm in better shape than both you and your friend right?"

Scratching at the back of his mask, Spider-man replied "Ye~ah I was kinda hoping you wouldn't catch onto that poin-Hit the dirt!" He said pulling her down just before a twisted back dagger would've pierced her heart from behind.

They both looked up from their position on the ground to find the Black Robed Servant but he looked a bit worse for the wear now. The spikes on his helmet were either chipped or broken, his gauntlets were cracked in several places, and his robes were in flaming tatters.

**_"_****_I am no longer amused. You will all die now!" _**he spat venomously before he began tracing runes in the air using the tip of his sword and prana that took on an ethereal acidic green color. Moments later a circle of runes were formed in front of him that thrummed with power on the tip of his sword which he raised to the sky.

The sky had now turned a dark black and the clouds began to swirl around slowly, and a thrum of power filled the air and the swirling of the clouds increased until a funnel formed coalescing into a tornado that stopped just on the point of the Servant's sword. The school was quickly consumed and devoured by this unnaturally created force of nature as green lightning lanced down from the sky like as if an angry zues was trying to smite the unworthy.

"IF YOU HAVE ANY PLANS NOW WOULD BE THE TIME TO SPEAK UP WEB HEAD." Laura muttered.

Chuckling dryly he retorted "FUNNY I WAS ABOUT TO SAY THE SAME TO YOU."

"THIS IS BULL SHIT! WHAT KIND OF SABER CAN USE RUNES TO SUMMON A TORNADO?! Rin screamed above the wind.

Suddenly, just as soon as the massive gusts of wind started they ceased, much to everyone's surprise including Rider's.

**_"_****_Who dare's-"_**He began only to stop when he noticed the blonde haired green eyed woman in white armor holding her broadsword defensively aloft. Along with three more Servants two of which had a shaken young girl in their arms and a red haired couple, the male of which was clearly a Master as he had unconcealed Command Seals in the shape of a flaming skull impaled by a sword going halfway up his forearm.

**_"_****_I see, so the Master finally decides to show his face; and here I thought you were going to hide like a coward-"_**

"That's enough Rider!" Sakura demanded all the while looking at Shirou who stared back at her for a moment before turning to Tohsaka and saying "Tohsaka, you alright?"

"I-I'm fine Emiya-kun. Thanks for the save." Rin replied a little breathlessly.

Shirou nodded before turning and meeting the unseen gaze of what could only be Sakura's Servant. He felt a chill run through him, as he looked into the blackness of that hood; yet there was a deep heat within him that refused to be snuffed out by that abyss.

"You caused all this didn't you?" Shirou asked far too calmly.

**_"_****_And if I did?" _**the Servant retorted uncaringly.

Something flared in Shirou's eyes as he replied "Then as a Hero of Justice, I'll do everything in my power to stop you."

The dark Servant chuckled as if he had just heard something funny before he said **"I see, very well then ****_'Hero of Justice' just know that when you fail, and when you die, that it was the Servant Rider who sent you to your end."_**

A determined look in still in his eyes Shirou nodded "And remember that it was Emiya Shirou who killed you when you die."

**_"_****_Fool, no man can kill me."_** The black cloaked Rider then disappeared only to reappear next to Sakura and finished **_"Come Mistress, I think we are done for today."_**

Sakura looked from her cSempai who was standing protectively in front of everyone; to the mysterious redheaded woman, to her 'older sister', and all four of his female Servants two of which were holding a shocked Kaede Makidera, Kane Himuro, and Yukika Saegusa all of whom were looking at her and her Servant with a mixture of awe and fear.

Sakura suddenly felt very isolated and alone. _'Maybe if I explain.'_ She thought.

"Sempai-"She began only to stop when Shirou gave her a very wary tired look like a soldier who had seen too much action and was now suspicious of everything.

"Sakura, maybe it would be best if you head back to Chimi-san's place. There's been enough damage done here today."

Sakura stood there stunned as her Sempai gave out orders to his Servants and with very little argument Sakura watched in a daze as Rin, Kaede, and Yukika were herded towards the Emiya estate, even as her Servant lifted her up and swiftly made his way back to Chimi's household, all Sakura could think over and over again was

_'__Is Sempai lost to me now?'_

* * *

**Word Count: 11,530 – Date Completed: 11/15/14**

* * *

**AN: Well here is Ch.3 ladies and gents and I thought I'd make up for the general lack of fight scenes thus far by giving you a battle between Sakura's Second Rider and Team Snark aka Team Rin. What do you think? Also sorry there was no Illya this chap, but when they hit the stage…shit is gonna die I mean, that's all there is to it, so I can't just throw them in like in canon they need a proper moment know what I mean? Also, it's really confusing for me calling several different Servants by the same class so they are either going to go by their real names or nick names from now on for the most part. Fun Fact: Spiderman has the most nicknames attached to his person. Seriously, look up his bio page on the marvel wiki. In closing thanks for the reviews for last chap and I thank you all for your continued support. Till the next chap, Bubbajack out!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A Spark of Madcraft**

**By: Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Genius Girl, or anything else that may or may not make it into this fic.**

**Ch.4: The Will and Way to Fight.**

_"__Where there's a will there's a way, and I have a will."_\- Donkey from Shrek voiced by Eddie Murphy

* * *

Shirou was conflicted on several levels. On one hand, he knew Sakura or he thought he did. _'Why would she let her Servant rampage out of control like that? Didn't she care about hurting innocent civilians?'_

Then there was the problem of the three near cationic girls from his school that had been sitting silently and listlessly in front of his dining room table. The last problem was…

"Oi Emiya-kun; are you listening to me?!" Tohsaka ranted getting his attention.

Glancing at her he replied "Not really no Tohsaka. I've got a lot on my mind at the moment you see."

Tohsaka narrowed her eyes slightly at his cheek before she sighed saying "Yeah, yeah I guess I can't blame you for being distracted after what just happened."

She then gained her air of superiority and continued "But you need to focus! What are you going to do about those three?!" she asked while pointing at her three traumatized classmates.

Shirou shrugged "Isn't it your job as Second Owner to deal with this kind of thing, not mine?"

Tohsaka staggered as if she had just been stabbed by an invisible spear for a moment before she straightened and clearing her throat said briskly "You're right Emiya-kun; I should just erase their memories and be done wi-"

For the first time since being led into his house one of the girls, Kaede Makidera finally spoke in a hollow broken voice "Erase our memories? That's your solution to this Tohsaka?" Kaede let out a twisted scoff and finished "With a friend like you, I'm glad I don't have any real enemies."

Out of the corner of his eye, Shirou saw Rin flinch at Makidera's words. _'Nicely done Tohsaka. Just treat it like what they went through didn't matter why won't you?'_

Sighing Shirou sat down across from Kaede and began "Makidera-san-"

"Call me Kaede, Emiya you and you're…" She looked at Laura at a loss for words.

"The proper term for them is Servant, but I prefer friends." Shirou supplied.

"Give us time and you'll be calling us more than just your '_friends'_ Shirou." Caster promised with a saucy wink.

"Oi, back off furball! I haven't cleared any of you to be anything more than friends with him at the moment." A redheaded blue-eyed older woman stated as she walked into the room throwing her arms around him and kissing his cheek in a clearly possessive display of affection.

Gently pushing her off of him with a blush on his face, Shirou stuttered "A-Aoko! Not in front of the guests!"

"Emiya-san, just what is this woman's affiliation with you? Kane asked pushing her glasses up.

Suppressing a sigh; the third rate magus replied "She is my fiancé and has been betrothed to me since I was eight."

"Wow, she's so pretty Shirou-san congratulations." Yukika Saegusa said seemingly having regained her nerves and her kind, caring, and upbeat attitude in the process.

Scratching the back of his head Shirou replied "Thanks Saegusa-san, can I get you, Himuro-san, and Kaede-san anything?"

Smiling at him sweetly she replied "Some green tea would be nice if it isn't too much trouble."

As Shirou left towards the kitchen she called after him, saying with a slight blush "And please call me Yukika Shirou-san as a t-thank you for saving me."

"Feel free to address me as Kane, Shirou-san." The silver haired high jumping ace muttered taciturnly while suddenly finding the tabletop very interesting.

"Right, I'll be right back with tea for everyone Kaede-san, Kane-san, Yukika-san please make yourself at home in the meantime."

After she was sure he was entrenched in his kitchen Aoko started chuckling drawing the eyes of everyone present, and causing Alice who had both just walked into the room Soujūrou to ask stoically with her left eyebrow raised just a hair "What is so amusing Aoko?"

Wiping away a false tear the Fifth Magician replied "Nothing just marveling at the old 'Emiya charm'. This makes what; twelve now?"

Alice blinked once before saying "Last I checked, he only had five. You, Tono and her two maids, and Ceil."

Tutting at the Kuonji witch, Aoko replied "You clearly haven't been paying attention Alice. As his Nee-chan it's your job to know these things."

This caused Alice to visibly narrow her eyes and say "Shut up and explain _Miss Blue_."

A sudden awkward squeak was heard, and Aoko glanced over to see the other Master Shirou helped Tohsaka looking at her pale faced and wide eyed.

Chuckling awkwardly Aoko replied "I think you broke her Alice. Anyway, I forgot how protective you are of our dear Shirou."

Alice merely kept glaring in silence, causing Aoko to sigh and say "Fine, All four of his Servants and his three- no, make that four rescues."

Alice looked into the eyes of the eight aforementioned women one by one, and when she looked at them, they each felt as if the stoic woman was staring into the depths of their very soul, nodding once at each of them before moving on. Finally she turned to Aoko and said "Their intentions are pure."

"What the hell was that about?" Kaede asked saying what was on everyone else was thinking.

Aoko just shook her head and said "Don't worry about it, just know that even though he doesn't realize it, Shirou is special. He is unnaturally charismatic causing both men and women flock to his side. Women want to be with him, and men wish to fight alongside him. Combine that with his genius intellect-"

Aoko was cut off by the Tohsaka heir's scoff. "Emiya, a genius? I admit he's pretty bright to summon four Servants at once, but he's no genius. He's barely holding an average at school, not that it matters now."

Before Aoko could open her mouth to respond, Alice beat her to it. "Shirou does possess genius level intellect, he just couldn't display it until recently due to…certain unknown restrictions."

Leveling a look at the black haired witch, Rin asked "That wouldn't have anything to do with that locket of his would it?"

Keeping her face a blank slate Alice replied "What makes you think that Heir of Tohsaka?"

Smiling like the Cheshire cat Fuyuki's Second Owner replied "When I found him, Emiya was as good as dead, stabbed in the heart by this Grail War's Lancer. I revived him-using the most powerful gem in my possession by the way-and followed him home to make sure he got there safely, only to watch as he made a D-rank Mystic Code out of random junk and then summoned not one but four Servants!"

Rin fumed for a bit only for her red and blue clad Servant to materialize and quip "Sorry about her, she's…temperamental."

"Shut up you smart ass." Rin bit out.

"Better a smart ass, then a dumbass." The Servant pointed out.

This statement caused Rin to groan and say "Just, just shut up Spider-man."

Most of the Servants and surprisingly Yukika gasped in surprise. The Servants at the fact that a Master would so casually flaunt her Servant's true name amongst the enemy and as for Yukika…

"You're really _the_ Spider-man?" she asked.

"Unless my name has changed since the last time I checked the waistband of my suit, yes, yes I am. What can I do for you miss?" the masked hero asked.

Yukika shook her head still smiling and replied "Not for me but for my younger brothers. They are huge fans of yours and would love to meet you."

For someone who crawled on walls, this threw even him for a loop "I have fans here?"

"Yes of course you probably wouldn't know-" Yukika muttered as she ruffled around in her backpack before pulling out a slim volume and handing it too him and watching as his masks eyeholes widened in shock as he stared at the image of himself on the cover.

She was silent for a moment letting it sink in before she said "Here, you are a western comic book hero."

Talon then spoke up "What about me?"

"You too, Talon-san. Both you, Spider-man and the people you know are characters created by a company called Marvel comics."

Yukika smiled warmly at her before bowing a bit and saying "It's a pleasure to meet you in person, I'm a big fan."

Laura didn't know how to take this. She wasn't a hero like Spiderman she didn't have 'fans' she was a cold hardened killer. So the best she could do was say awkwardly "Umm, thanks."

Clearing her throat to get everyone's attention Lacer asked Rin "Why did you just reveal your Servant's name?"

Rin smirked for the second time since arriving at the Emiya Estate and opened her mouth to answer only to be beat to the punch by Talon who replied "It's something akin to a Class Skill that both Spiderman and I possess. We were heroes who went under false names when we did heroic deeds in life and because of that, so long as you don't know our true names, our stats and alignment remain hidden even from our master's. Right Rin?" Talon finished with a smirk.

Closing her mouth with a snap and grimacing Rin silently nodded, confirming her suspicions.

Shirou suddenly reappeared holding a silver tea tray that had several cups of fine china and a porcelain tea pot on it as well as a bag of shortbread cookies. Upon seeing Rin's face he became concerned and asked "Tohsaka, is everything ok?"

Sighing Rin replied "Shut up Emiya, just shut up."

Shirou felt a chill run down his spine when he heard Aoko ask in an all too sweet voice "What's this I hear about you dying _Shi-rou-kun_?"

Shirou was saved from having to answer by Spiderman suddenly hitting his knees and screaming "OH MY GOD! All this time, all this time he was _RIGHT_."

"What, what is it Webs?" Laura asked concerned.

"Wade…" the Wallcrawler whispered in fear.

"What about him? She asked fearing she'd run into him at some point and been poisoned.

"He…was right…all those times we thought he was spewing crazy shit… He. Was. Right…" the Web Head whispered in sickened shock.

Talon stared at him silently for a moment with her mouth agape, before she too hit her knees and started chorusing along with the friendly neighborhood hero "HE WAS RIGHT, HE WAS RIGHT, ALL THIS TIME, WADE WAS RIGHT!"

* * *

In another place, in a completely separate universe, the clacking a computer keyboard would have been heard ceaselessly for the past three days. Several empty carafes of the 'almost absolutely perfect blend of coffee ever' lay scattered around the room as the person within had not slept in days.

The sound of a knock at the door was ignored so absorbed was the person in their task, as was the sound of the door opening and it was only when the sound of approaching footsteps were heard that the occupant of the room spoke, neither turning around nor stopping in its task in a feminine voice that was raw and scratchy from misuse "What do you want _Kolee_?"

"How did you know it was me _Zumil_?"

A mirthless laugh echoed across the room before she answered "You're the only one who could ever possibly sneak up on me Zeetha." The woman said before stopping and turning around.

Agatha Heterodyne stood framed in the light of a giant supercomputer. Now thirty-eight; she still wore her golden-red hair long and straight and it had lengthen to the back of her knees. She still required glasses, but they were now in a sideways hexagon shape and much smaller than before, merely framing her eyes. Her chest and figure were as big and as well-kept as ever, the latter of which Zeetha approved of, as she had not spent all this time training her just for her to let herself go. Still, it was clear she needed some rest or at least a shower as her golden hair was shining with grease, black circles were under her eyes, and her aged bronze colored dress that cut off just above her thighs and light brown leather bodice was covered in various coffee stains.

Pacing back and forth in thigh high leather riding boots, Agatha spoke rapidly, turning on her heel every now and again "I'm so close, so close to finding him Zeetha! In the past two days his Spark has activated three times! Three TIMES, ZEETHA!" She said before flopping back down into her high-backed oxblood leather swivel chair and muttering "My dear sweet little William is alive."

The Head of House Heterodyne looked up as she felt her old friend and mentor's hand rest comfortingly on her shoulder and listened silently as she said "Agatha, we'll find him, we will. In fact, I came here at my husband's request to tell you that he and…your former husband have sent someone to William's location and have tasked him to bring him back to Castle Heterodyne."

This bit of information caused Agatha to bolt to her feet and shout "WHAT?! How, no wait-who? Who did they send Zeetha?" suddenly becoming frantic.

"They sent Othar's Uncle Henderson." Seeing the shocked looking on her _Zumil's_ face she asked "Agatha, what's wrong?"

"He's going to die…my little William is going to be killed." Agatha muttered in a shocked tone as she slowly shook her head back and forth.

"Agatha?" Zeetha asked confused.

"No, no, no, no NO! I won't let this happen damn it!" Agatha said as she jumped up from her seat and headed for the door, calling out to her Castle to 'Fire up the walkthrough shower and to get me a clean outfit, a travel bag, and transport to Castle Tryggvassen ready in twenty!'

"Agatha!" Zeetha called causing her to turn around as she had already half stripped out of her clothes and asked "Yes Zeetha? What is it?"

Ignoring the fact that her _Zumil _was naked in front of her from the waist up Zeetha replied "You'll need to head to Sturmhalten."

"Did you hear that Castle?! Change of plans, we're going to Sturmhalten!" Agatha hollered before shrugging herself out of the remains of her clothes and walking forward as a long beige curtain, several faucets and mechanical arms brandishing soap and brushes, and finally at the end were a pair of arms holding a black and gold vine embroidered dress.

Zeetha walked alongside her friend on the opposite side of the curtain saying "I'm sorry Agatha, I didn't realize my husband was being his usual conniving self. I've been busy recently teaching Sonja the way of _Kolee-dok-Zumil_."

"Don't blame yourself Zeetha, how's my niece doing by the way? Agatha asked as she slipped into her new dress, referring to Sonja.

"She does her mother and aunt proud, she is shaping up to be a fine warrior-woman and shall be an even better _Kolee_ when the time comes for her to choose."

Agatha stepped out from behind the long curtain just as the mechanical hands finished lacing up the oxblood colored leather bodice that came with her dress as well as fitting her with matching steel toed hiking boots, looking at her Kolee with an insane and borderline sadistic smile on her face she said cheerfully "Let's go reprimand to the men in our lives, shall we?"

Returning the smile with an accompanying nod Zeetha queen of Skifander and the Sturmhalten kingdom, accompanied Agatha Heterodyne some eleven years past known as Agatha Tryggvassen, back to her home in the hopes of finding her son and heir to both her, and her ex-husbands Houses.

_'__I truly hope this all works out for you my Zumil I really do.'_ Zeetha thought as she followed her flaxen haired friend out the front doors of her Castle and onto a waiting blimp.

* * *

Back in the Nasuverse Shirou and co had just finished their tea during which Shirou had explained everything that was really going on, that the 'gas leaks' and 'mysterious disappearances' were likely the result of the actions of Servants and they were all battling for a magical wish granting device.

"Oi Emiya, so let me see if I've got all this straight. You and Tohsaka are mages?"

"Correct."

"You can do honest to goodness magic?" she asked with heavy skepticism in her voice.

In response Shirou projected a simple kitchen knife in a flash of golden light.

Kaede nodded, you've just what are you going to do about this anyway?" Kaede asked bluntly.

"Do?" Rin asked with a raised eyebrow "The only thing he can do is fight."

"That's the whole problem!" the dark-skinned girl exploded "If he fights chances are innocent people are gonna get hurt damn it! What the hell were either one of you thinking entering into this thing?!"

Shirou finally glanced up from the table and looked at the enraged track star calmly and said "I didn't 'sign up' for anything Kaede-san, I was chosen. To not participate would mean I would likely be permanently crippled as the Command Seals-"

Shirou waved his left hand, showing his left arm covered in crimson a tattoo of a flaming skull impaled by a sword before continuing-"Are connected to my magic circuits which are a part of my soul, and what happens to the soul is reflected upon the body. If they were to be removed I would be crippled for life.

Shirou suddenly stood up "But more than that, if I were to not participate, that would run the risk of hundreds if not thousands of innocent people being hurt if some crazy asshole got ahold of the Grail. And that is not something I can just sit back and watch, not if I can do something about it. Now; if you'll excuse me, I need to go and think of what to make for dinner for roughly a dozen people!"

After Shirou left the table Yukika couldn't help but notice that Shirou had a lot on his mind. For the most part he was quiet, staring silently at the bare table top, with a scowl on his face. Now; Yukika knew she should be more concerned about the fact that magic was real, and that a secret war was taking place around innocent civilians, or the fact that her brothers could be hurt…

_'__But I'm not strong enough to do anything about any of this. I don't have a Servant's strength or a mages abilities. But one thing I can do…one thing I can do is listen.'_ She thought before she plucked up her courage and went after him.

She found him by following the sound of music. She found him in what could only be a dojo, sitting cross-legged in the middle of the room as _'Boom, Boom, Boom'_ by John Lee Hooker blared through the speakers in the background. Calmly assuming seiza position and sitting on her heels across from him she asked her host concernedly "Shirou-san, is something wrong?"

Her host snapped his head up as if in a daze and said "Hmm, oh yes, I'm…I'm fine Yukika-san."

She kept her concerned look on her face as she gave him a pointed look saying "What's really bothering you Shirou-san?"

Sighing and rubbing his eyes, the third-rate magus replied "Well I'm not sure if I have the means to protect all of you at the moment. I need to pick up more food, lots of it, and Sakura knows where I live, I have little to no defenses and nothing that can keep back a Servant like that Rider. Plus, although Rin is has saved my life and is staying here at the moment, I'm not entirely sure if I can trust her not to stab me in the back at her most convenient opportunity or at least I don't trust her Servants not to! To top it all off, I don't know what to make for dinner!" he finished huffing slightly.

Yukika simply sat there silently for a time before saying "So…do you feel better now that you got all of that off your chest?"

"Yes, a little. Thank you for listening Yukika-san. But I'm worried about something else too." Shirou admitted.

Cocking her head to the side Yukika asked "What is it Shirou-san?"

Clearing his throat awkwardly for a moment, he replied "Well that depends, what do you intend to do now that you know what's going on?"

Clasping her hands in her lap, the brunet looked down and said "I can't see myself doing much; I mean, even if I went to the police they wouldn't believe me, and I'm not a mage so I can't help during the fighting, but I guess I can do my best to provide moral support to both you and Tohsaka-sempai and make sure you receive proper medical treatment."

"You know about medicine?" the redhead asked surprised.

"Oh yes, I took a first aid course. It's a need to know when you're raising five younger brothers all by yourself."

The moment the words left her mouth Yukika's eyes widened in shock and she covered her mouth with her hand for a moment before whispering "Please don't tell anyone Shirou-san! If you do, they'll take my brothers away and I don't want that!"

Brow crinkling in confusion Shirou asked "What do you mean Yukika-san, what's going on, just who do you think is coming to take away your brothers?"

"C-child Welfare, t-they think my parents left on a really long b-b-business t-trip! Truth is they died in the Fuyuki Fire on the way to the airport."

Shirou was silent for a moment silently debating whether or not to ask what was on his mind Yukika made up his mind for him however "I'm sure you're wondering how I managed to fool child services for the past ten years huh?"

"Well honestly, yeah." He replied motioning her to continue.

"Well I have a neighbor who is a NEET and using a voice mail set up by my parents he managed to create a voice synthesizer so that whenever anyone called they would think they were talking to my mother."

Shirou nodded in understanding "Ah, that's pretty smart-"He paused before asking "But what DID YOU do for money?"

"Oh well I did random little odd jobs here and there. I helped advertise for a new store, I'd stock shelves, I'd deliver letters that sort of thing."

Shirou briefly refinished about all the time he spent at the Copenhagen and going with Raiga on his hobbies and he couldn't help but think that Yukika was a lot like himself before he had to correct that line of thought 'She had to do odd jobs, people were depending on her looking up to her…'

"In their eyes you're their hero." Shirou muttered to himself causing the brown haired girl to cock her head to the said and ask "What was that Shirou-san?"

Shaking himself out of his reverie the magus replied "Your brothers' everything you've done for them, it wouldn't surprise me if they look up to you like some kind of hero."

This caused Saegusa to blush at the praise and say "I-I don't know about that-"She then offered him a kind smile and finished "But it was kind of you to say, thank you."

Yukika then stood up and after dusting off her skirt said "Don't worry about dinner I know how to cook so I can handle that. As for Tohsaka-sempai while I'm surprised she is a mage, I don't think she's a bad person, and her Servants are both wounded and outnumbered two to one so no problems there. As for everything else; just take a deep breath let it out and then take it one step at a time alright?"

Doing as his schoolmate suggested, Homurahara's Brownie took a deep breath and then slowly let it all out, and as he did so, he felt tension leaving his shoulders' he didn't even know was there. Smiling, he then stood himself and gave her a thankful smile saying "I leave dinner in your capable hands."

Just as he was about to leave the room he turned and asked "Yukika-san, if hypothetically you could get the power to do more in this War, would you take it?"

Shirou held up a hand to forestall her answer as he finished "Even if attaining that power could very well cost you your life?"

Much to his surprise she hardly hesitated. Her eyed becoming firm with resolve Yukika Saegusa replied "I would, I can't just walk away; not now that I know that people's lives are in danger, that my brother's lives could be put in danger! So if there was any way I could help and somehow protect my family and friends I'd do it."

"And that goes double for us!" a new voice added, butting into the conversation.

Looking out the door he held ajar, Shirou found both Kaede and Kane standing there, with Kaede leaning against the wall and pointing at both herself and the ever calm and stoic Kane who silently nodded in support of Panther of Homurahara's idea.

"Oi, were you two eavesdropping?" Shirou asked, semi annoyed that he couldn't have a private conversation in his own home.

Kane shook her silver locks and replied "No Shirou-san, we merely heard you both when you opened the door and _someone_ decided to add her two cents." Kane finished while giving an abashed looked Kaede a mild sideways glare.

"Are you sure about this, you could die you know?" the third rate magus warned.

"We all gotta die sometime Red." Kaede said mimicking a bad American accent.

Looking at her in confusion it was Kane who replied "Platoon is one of Kaede-chan's favorite movies."

"Oh." Was all Shirou could manage to say in response.

"Yeah well, my choices in movies aside, don't worry about dinner we'll handle it, ne?" Kaede promised boisterously before moving aside to let her host past.

As much as Shirou loved cooking and valued his time in the kitchen he knew that in this case it was best to simply concede this time and get to work on his latest project. "Ok, I'm leaving it up to you five."

"Five?" Kane questioned, to which Shirou nodded and replied "Yes, the earlier today Caster and Aoko-chan tried to make me breakfast but were nearly blown up by an enemy Servant instead. So I would appreciate it if the three of you could work with the two of them to come up with something."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, you nearly got blown up…this morning and one of your biggest concerns is what to make for dinner?! There is something wrong with your priorities Emiya." Kaede said as she face palmed herself.

"Hey, I had Caster lay down some seriously heavy Bounded Fields-what I mean to say is, magical barriers-Shirou corrected after seeing the confused looks on the trio's faces-"So there's no way that any Servant aside from another Caster is going to be able to enter this place without my say so."

All three heaved a sigh of relief after hearing that unknowingly causing their host to roll his eyes before saying "Assassin?"

The voluptuous woman from earlier appeared seemingly out of thin air in all her biker-like glory landing in a crouch before straightening and saying calmly with a slight smirk on her face upon seeing the shocked looks of the track team trio "Yes Shirou?"

Did you manage to get the last piece I required before getting drawn into that fight at the school?" he asked.

In response Laura reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a small cardboard box labeled '9cm Sub-Arachnoid Block needles. One hundred count. "I doubled back after the fight, to pick these up, but I got em."

Taking the package and smiling Shirou said "Perfect thank you, now I have another job for you, but first I need to talk with Tohsaka."

Shirou then led the way out into the living room where Tohsaka and her Servant Spiderman sat watching television. Well Rin sat; Spiderman hung upside-down from the ceiling by a line of webbing.

"I hope you clean up after yourself Spiderman-san, while I do not mind having you here I would appreciate it if you didn't leave cobwebs everywhere." Shirou said mildly annoyed with an equally cross look coming over his face.

"Relax chief, this stuff will disappear in about an hour, so no harm no foul right?" the web head said dropping down from his webline.

"Ah that's fine then. Tohsaka-san?" Shirou said getting the Average One's attention.

"Hmm what is it Emiya-kun?" Tohsaka asked looking away from the film, which Shirou briefly noticed was actually starring her Servant and said "Yukika-san, Kane-san, and Kaede-san are going to make dinner with Aoko and Caster. Do you know where they are?"

"They said something about sparring in the back yard." Responded halfhearted paying more attention to the program than her host.

"What?!" Shirou yelled nervously before rushing to the back yard. Throwing open the screen door, he found his Servant of the Sword and his Fiancé going at it hard. He watched as Aoko ducked a steel colored blur that was Altria's sword before delivering a punishing uppercut and launching the blonde Saber into the air before intoning "Missiles Fire!"

Milliseconds later, more than twenty bolts of light zoomed towards the airborne Servant only to dissipate when they came into contact with her due to her A-rank magic resistance. Thus, Saber managed to use her upward momentum to her advantage, doing a downward overhead chop with her magnificent sword and impact the ground shattering the earth and sending Aoko flying off her feet and dazing her.

Before the Fifth Magician could regain her feet, she found Saber's blade at her throat, with the blonde haired Servant looking down at her coolly and asking "Do you yield?"

Instead of answering Aoko leaned back and kicked upwards, sending Altria's blade way off course as she regained her feet and then prana coating her hands threw a punch that sent the Servant of the Sword flying backwards and laying sprawled in the dirt, where Aoko asked "I was going to ask you the same question Saber-chan."

Quickly getting to her feet, Altria scowled at the use of the suffix attached to her class and was about to charge full bore at the redheaded woman when she heard the voice of her master yell "That's enough you two!"

Both Magician and Servant turned to find an irritated Shirou marching his way across his now destroyed backyard towards them. They froze for a moment before staring guiltily at the ground like five year olds with their hands caught in the cookie jar again.

Stopping in front of his Servant and his fiancé with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face Shirou asked calmly "Would either one of you like to explain why my backyard is a wreck?"

Poking her fingers together nervously and occasionally glancing up at his stern expression Aoko replied "Well, Saber-chan and I were um sparing and uh it might've gotten a little out of hand?"

"Clearly. At any rate; after you clean up this mess Aoko-chan, find Cas-ko and go help Yukika-san, Kaede-san, and Kane-san prepare dinner for…roughly thirty."

"Thirty, do you have enough ingredients here to cook for that many?!" Aoko asked.

Rubbing his temple Shirou replied "I hope so, if not just send Soujūrou-nii to the market he knows where it is."

And what will everyone else be doing while Aoko-san and the others are cooking dinner Shirou?" Lancers voice asked causing the four to jump slightly and Shirou to turn to where Lancer was calmly sitting in the grass and say "Lancer, I didn't see you there."

Smiling serenely the green haired woman replied "Yes, I tend to blend in, in the outdoors think nothing of it Shirou. But as to my question?"

"Oh right, well before I rushed out here I was going to ask Laura-san and Spiderman-san if they would be willing to go and pick up Yukika's younger siblings as they are likely worried about her. In fact Lancer, why don't you go with them?"

"Me?" the Servant asked in a politely confused manner to which Shirou nodded and replied "Yeah, I think you'd be able to put everyone at ease if it becomes necessary, you have a way about you, you know?"

This caused Enkidu to smile and say "Thank you Shirou I'm flattered you think so. I'll go round up the other two and get directions from Yukika-san and be on my way. We should be back in time for dinner." Lancer said calmly before making her way indoors.

After she left, Altria turned to her 'ally' and asked "What shall I be doing in the meantime?"

Humming for a moment, Shirou replied "Well, I intend to work on my latest project, would you like to help?"

Altria was silent for a moment as she thought it over. _'Just because there are numerous Bounded Fields around the property now does not mean Shirou should not be under guard.' _She thought.

"Very well, I will assist you in your project." She replied with a firm nod.

"Great, I could use someone to hand me required materials while I work. C'mon if we get started now, we might be able to finish up before dinner." He said as he took her by the hand, a crazy gleam in his eye and equally mad grin on his face before he dragged the surprised Servant of the Sword into the shed with him as his fiancé looked on with a bemused expression.

_'__Well, things certainly won't get boring around here.'_ Aoko thought as she made her way inside intent to help cook enough to feed a small army.

* * *

Meanwhile on the other side of Fuyuki a despicable waste of human life known as Shinji Matou watched with twisted glee as his slave and source of power, Rider, drained yet another walking prana container that was a human being. But he took particular pleasure in draining this particular individual… one Mitsuzuri Ayako, the Captain of the Archery club.

"That's enough Rider, let the tramp go." Shinji commanded.

As Mitsuzuri's body slumped near lifelessly to the ground Shinji stood over her and smirked "Ah you thought you were so tough, eh?-He kicked her causing her to whimper-"That you were so much better than ME, Superior to ME?! Well, who's laughing now, huh, and who's laying in the gutter? Huh, huh?!"

While her reviled master ranted and raved, Rider kept and ear and several other senses sharp for passersby or enemy Servants. This is why she felt the disturbance in the air and tried to warn her 'master'

"Shinji I believe-"Rider was silenced by a slap from Shinji, who was very annoyed to be taken from his gloating and hissed "Listen you useless whore, unless I specifically tell you otherwise, you are to stand there quietly and not move, understood?"

When Rider remained silent he snapped "Well?"

"You told me to remain still and silent and now you wish for me to talk, which is it?" Rider asked in a mocking tone.

Growling with narrowed eyes Shinji replied "Just shut up and stand there till I call for you Rider."

As Shinji was talking, the charge in the air had grown stronger, when he turned his back, a brief spark of lightening appeared, then another, and then another until soon a ball or cage of lightning had manifested only to disappear and leave someone behind.

Since Rider was blind she couldn't actually see this person but using her enhanced senses which included prana detection she could almost see just as well. She could tell it was a male, roughly sixty years of age in extremely good shape, so much so she almost mistook him for an athletic man half his age.

It was then that she realized something that would amuse her greatly…This person, whomever he was, was completely stark naked and he was heading straight for Shinji…

Matou suddenly stooped his ranting once again when he felt a tap on his shoulder and a male voice with a Scottish accent ask "E'scuse me lad, but ah need your shirt, pants, and shoes. I'ma lookin' fer me Nephew Charlie, for he stole me wee men."

"What the…why the fuck are you naked?!" Shinji asked turning around to find a 5'9 old man with a grey hair styled in a grizzly Adams beard and a Mohawk towering over him, his eyes squinted closed.

Smirking at him the old timer retorted "The better question is lad, why is you, passed out on the ground naked?"

Wah- but I'm not-"Shinji didn't get to finish as he was suddenly decked across the jaw and grabbed by the scruff of the neck before he could hit the floor by the burly Scotsman and raised to his eyelevel and said "Ya think his clothes will fit Rupert?"

The man then glanced at his bare left shoulder and said "Ah, that's right, I left Rupert back at base, someone needs ta guard me stash of African herbs."

"I think the pants might ride a bit in the crotch, but if you're ok with that, they should be just fine." A sultry voice spoke up from behind the man making him turn on his heel and do his best to lock eyes with what was obviously a 'woman of the night'.

"Hmm, long hair, skimpy outfit, sultry voice, girl passed out on the ground over 'dere, I walked in on a threesome didn't I?"

In response, the woman materialized a chain and said "I wouldn't touch that worm if he used one thousand command seals…the girl, well maybe."

"Ah so I walked in on lesbian action and voyeurism." Casually dodging the thrown spiked chain he corrected himself saying "Oh a dominatrix, so she's your sub then? Or are they both?"

Rider sighed giving up and said "Please just get dressed, there is much I have to tell you and very little time to do it."

"Right then lass, but first things first-"The man said as he said as he stripped Shinji down to his boxers and pulled on his too small shirt which tore at the shoulders when he flexed, becoming an impromptu vest in the process, and the pants, which were two inches too short in the leg and a bit snug in the crotch like she said "-We need to exchange names and then find supplies'. As this will be a long campaign, an' I'd like ta' know the name of the person in the foxhole wit' me."

"Very well, I am Servant Rider-"She stopped as the old man chortled and said "Rider huh, well I'm sure if they pay you a little extra, you will won't you?"

Suppressing a groan, the Servant of the Mount, said "What did you mean by supplies?"

"We need ta find an army surplus store an get me a decent outfit, then we need ta find an army base and load up on guns, lots of them. An' a U-Haul truck, and some premium Jamaican hash." He said before picking up the near comatose Mitsuzuri while muttering 'no man left behind' and making his way out of the alleyway they were currently in.

It was only when he was out of the alleyway and halfway down the street carrying the girl in his arms that Rider caught up to him falling into step beside him saying demurely "So, what's your name? Or should I just call you Big Dumb Brute like I've been thinking in my head since we've met?"

The man suddenly stopped and stared at her through eyes that were nearly squinted shut and said "My name is Tryggvassen, "Ole Man" Henderson Tryggvassen, and I'm on a mission to find ma wee great nephew Charlie, as he stole me wee men!"

Wee men? Rider questioned.

"Aye." Henderson said with a nod "I dunno what kinda whippersnapper me nephew Othar's been raisin' but nobody and nobody steals me lawn gnome collection."

Rider stopped cold when she received the required information from the Greater Grail "A lawn gnome collection? You think your great nephew has stolen your lawn ornaments?"

Henderson whirled on her and got right into the Servant of the Mounts face, whispering harshly "Lawn ornaments? This was a collection of two hundred fifteen hand painted porcelain lawn gnomes from Thailand. Now I'm not going to go into details on how I got them, but I will say that for a while I like you, was a whore, and I had ta… _'Smoke a whole lotta pipe'_ to get those boys. An then, I rode Cappin' Ahab's junk all the back ta Europa. Which lemme tell ya was a very uncomfortable-"

"I'm sure, I'm sure it was. So, to the Army Surplus Store?" Rider said quickly cutting the old man off before he could go into specifics and going into astral form.

Once she was out of sight and thankfully out of mind, she thought _'My new Master is completely and utterly insane…well, this should be fun.'_

* * *

Dinner at the Emiya household that night was hectic to say the least. Shirou couldn't remember a time when he had so many people in his house honestly, as along with himself and his four Servants he had, four fellow schoolmates one of whom was a fellow Master, plus one of his schoolmates five younger siblings, his fiancé and adoptive older brother and sister, and to round it all out Fuji-nee who was eating more because she was currently out of a job due to the school being wrecked.

Thankfully enough was cooked to feed a platoon, and there was quite a spread on the table, from a mountain of white rice, to shrimp tempura, yakisoba by the pound and nearly a gallon of miso soup, no one would be going hungry tonight. Yet despite the copious amount of food, it was all being devoured at an alarmingly fast rate.

_'__I'm going to be broke due to food expenses alone by the time this war is over.'_ Shirou thought as Saber went in for her 'second' really her fourth bowl of rice and shrimp tempura, while Shirou himself had just finished his first bowl of food.

Still, he didn't mind as long as everyone was happy. Speaking of happy; Yukika's siblings seemed thrilled as not only were they meeting their favorite comic book heroes in real life but their older sister knew several genuine magicians, and to top it all off, they had enough food that they could eat until they puked if they so desired.

Shirou stared at each one for a moment, he couldn't help but be amazed at the fact that all the Saegusa sibling had light brown hair and eyes but to Shirou who grew up alone, having younger people around you that looked similar to you was odd to him.

He started with Wakage the youngest at twelve who was short due to his age and constantly teased about it by his siblings. He kept his hair trimmed short and his mouth seemed to run constantly with questions as his head turned this way and that, as if trying to see everything at once. At the moment he seemed content with bombarding Rin with questions about magecraft, questions she seemed only to enthuse to answer for the young bright-eyed child.

"And that is why it would be impossible to pull a rabbit out of a hat." Rin finished.

"Oh, so you're like a mage from fantasy novels then? You can throw around fire and lightning and hypnotize people and stuff?" he asked.

"That's right." Rin replied giving the boy a kind smile.

"That's so cool Rin-neechan!" Wakage said enthusiastic.

Rin became slightly sheepish and coughing into her hand replied "Well yes, I suppose it is to someone who's never seen magecraft before."

Smiling at the exchange, Shirou turned towards the second youngest; the thirteen year old Yoi, who was in that lanky teenager voice cracking phase, as he was only 4'3 at the moment his hair also always seemed to have a serious case of bed head no matter what he did to it. He was currently trying beat both Saber and Taiga at their own game and out-eat them. Although Yoi was still growing Shirou highly doubted he could out eat those two, but from the look of competitive fire in his eyes he was sure going to try.

Next was the middle child Heiwa, who looked to be the studious type, he wore thick glasses and, like Yukika, had a straight brown hair, but unlike her he was quite introverted. So much so that Shirou at first assumed he was mute. Heiwa was, according to his older sister a very smart if quiet shy boy and most of the time could be found reading some book or another and though he rarely talked when he did deign to speak, he often said something important.

Currently he was sitting quietly at the table eating in amicable silence with Enkidu and Alice-nee. He seemed to sense Shirou's gaze on him as he glanced at him momentarily and Shirou raised a hand slightly in greeting. Which, much to his surprise, the shy boy returned briefly before focusing back on his meal.

Then there was the third oldest, Kentaro or just Ken as he liked to be called. He looked older than he really was thanks to puberty, and looked like a punk or delinquent due to his shaggy brown hair and goatee, plus he was rather tall for his age at 5'7 and seemed to be the rambunctious protector of the group as he was loud and was currently challenging Aoko to a spar after dinner, one which she was declining.

"Tell you what kid, you beat Soujūrou and then we'll talk about you fighting me."

Ken eyed Soujūrou for a moment before saying disparagingly "He doesn't look so tough."

"Soujūrou-san is the current UFC bantamweight champion. It would be foolish to underestimate him." Alice warned calmly while taking a bite of tempura.

"Oh yeah?" Ken said giving Soujūrou another once over with new found respect as if this time appraising his skill before cockily stating "Eh, I bet I could still take em."

"Why must you always act like an uncivilized barbarian little brother?" A civilized highbrow voice asked.

"I dunno why do you always act like you have a stick shoved up your ass, pretty boy?" Ken retorted.

The person who asked the first question was the eldest son Sekinin. Who bore a somewhat regal appearance, sporting narrow features and high cheek bones with swept back brown hair, and he was currently wearing an impeccable school uniform.

"Classless brute." Sekinin retorted snidely.

"Pompous ass." Ken retorted getting into his older brother's face.

"I'm surprised you even know that word." Sekinin scoffed.

Ken then smirked and retorted "Oh yeah, and I'm surprised you 'borrow' sis's skincare products."

Sekinin looked mortified "What, you promised we would never speak of that!"

"I lied." Ken said leaning back with a casual shrug, he was then sent flat on his back by a sucker punch from his elder brother.

Before it could get out of hand however Yukika spoke up, clapping her hands together and saying "That's enough you two. Remember, we are guests here please."

This stopped the brother's cold right before they were about to slug each other in the face and they glared at one another for a moment before they both sat up and apologized.

"Sorry sis/Apologies big sister." They intoned as one, causing Yukika to smile and say "That's alright, but aren't you forgetting to thank Shirou-san for something…"

She then cast her eyes around the table at her other siblings and continued "-aren't you all forgetting to thank Shirou-san for something?" she asked pointedly.

"Thank you for dinner Shirou-san!" the group of five intoned as one, causing the third rate magus to rub the back of his head and say "No problem your all welcome and can stay as long as you like provided you clean up after yourselves."

"Sweet, thanks man." Ken said giving him a thumbs up and a grin before asking casually "So, you dating our sister or what?"

Yukika turned bright pink and stuttered out "K-Kentaro-reiti, what are you doing assuming such things?"

Ken shrugged "Just wondering if he was with you or one of these other ladies here is all."

"Yukika-san and I are not dating Ken-san." Shirou said hoping to save her from anymore embarrassment.

"Not dating yet you mean? Eight thousand yen says he and sis hook up, any takers?" Ken asked while holding up several 1,000¥ bills.

"I'll take that bet, but my money is on either of these two here." Yoi, the second youngest said pointing to both Altria and Taiga the latter of whom blushed and said "Me and Shirou? He's like my little brother!"

"You two actually blood related?" Yoi asked with an eyebrow raised.

"No but-"Taiga began only for Yoi to cut in saying "-Then anything can happen. 8k each on these two Kenny!"

Right got it, any other takers?" he asked writing this down on a napkin.

"Umm, I'd like to put 5k¥ on both the neechans here please." Wakage said raising his hand before pointing to both Rin and Aoko. The latter of which smirked when the former choked on her tea.

"32k¥. Harem." Came a quiet monotone voice, which made everyone pause and stare at who had spoken.

"Heiwa, did I hear you right man? You wanna bet 32k on this guy getting a harem?" Ken asked dubiously.

"Everyone, yes." Heiwa said nodding once before turning silently back to his meal.

Ken shrugged in indifference "It's your money little guy."

Shirou then cleared his throat and said "If I could have everyone's attention please, I would like to show you all something after dinner."

"Is it a magical something Shirou-niisan?" Wakage asked excitedly.

Shirou nodded enticed by his enthusiasm "It is I built it while the others were making dinner and picking you up. Would you all like to see it now?"

"Yeah! Hell yeah!" the others shouted while Ken swore.

Shirou could only smile at their enthusiasm and reply while standing up "Well then, follow me."

* * *

The group soon found themselves outside the shed, while Shirou stood in front of them, the shut doors behind him. Clearing his throat he said "First off, I would like to thank both Caster, Assassin and Saber for assisting me on this project, and for Caster moving her Workshop to the attic of the shed."

A polite applause was given and the two Servants soaked it up or in Caster's case basked in Shirou's praise. "No problem, glad to help. Stop by sometime and I'll give you the grand tour _shi-rou-kun, ne?" _Caster said suggestively as she shot him a wink, only to wince when Assassin stepped on her foot.

"Ri~ght, well…without further ado, here it is…Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, Magi and Mundane, Servants and Masters-"

"Get on with it already its cold out here Emiya!" Rin shouted from the back.

"Don't spoil my moment woman!" Shirou shouted before muttering "Anyway where was I? Ah yes- I present you the Throne of Apotheosis!"

With that, Shirou threw open the shed doors and stepped aside so everyone could see. They were all silent for a moment and then, finally Soujūrou said what everyone was thinking "It's a tricked out barber chair."

Indeed it was, a red leather barber chair but it had a bunch of things attached to the back which they couldn't see, though they could make out a long cord connected on one end to a laptop and a hypodermic needle set in-between the neck rest and the remaining part of the chair.

"A chair? Soujūrou-nii this is not just a chair."

It's not?" he asked, to which Shirou shook his head before turning the seat around and revealing several objects set into the back of the seat.

They were stone talismans twenty four in all and each one bore a symbol fourteen bore an animal and ten looked like people doing various things, from shooting a bow to pouring a pitcher of water.

Pointing them out, Shirou then began to explain just what the device did. "These talismans? Each one represents a constellation found either in the eastern zodiac or western constellations." He then turned to Aoko and said "Aoko-chan, do you remember what you told me about that Araya guy the priest you attended the Clocktower with?"

"Soren? You got this idea from what I told you about his ideologies?" the redheaded Magician inquired.

Shirou nodded "Yeah, but I'm going to do it a lot less violently than he did, and if my theory is correct my Throne should be able to grant normal people psi-based abilities determined on what year and then upon what day of which month they were born, by both awakening and then enhancing their Origin."

At this point Rin forced her way to the front of the pack and pointed at Shirou accusingly with one finger the hand on her hip as she said "Do you mean to tell me, you've found a way to access the Akasha?"

"Sort of, by sticking people in the brainstem with that needle near the neck there; I can access their soul as the brain is connected to the soul and from there I can find out their Origin information and then using the talismans, add abilities based upon zodiac birth sighs. Abilities they for some reason should have, but do not have at the time of their births."

After his explanation Shirou rubbed his hands together and said "Who wants to go first?"

Umm, what does this thing do again, in plain Japanese?" Kaede asked all the techno babble going right over her, and everyone else's head.

"In layman's terms? It gives people super powers based upon the year and month that they were born."

As the other's scrambled to be first into the machine, an ashen-faced and shocked Rin was kept muttering "Impossible bullshit." Over and over again.

* * *

**Word Length:9,108 – Date completed: 12/6/14**

* * *

**AN: Sorry for the long wait on this chap everyone but I DID say that the holidays could mess with my schedule a bit. So there you have it. But oh man, I've been wanting to reveal the "Throne of Apotheosis" since the very first chapter. Yep a Mystic Code that, not only reveals peoples origins, but also grants them abilities based on both the Eastern Zodiac (Which deals with the YEAR you were born) and the Western one (Which has to do with which MONTH you were born) and you've got bonified badassess.**

**Now, here's something else I'm going to start doing Servant Stat Sheets…the non-canon ones anyway. I'm reserving the right to keep NP's a secret until I see fit to reveal them however.**

**Starting with Assassin:**

**Servant: Assassin**

**Identity: Laura "Talon" Kinney**

**Secondary Class: Berserker**

**Parameters: Strength: D (?,?) Endurance: A+ Agility: B (?) Mana: E- (?) Luck: E NP: A+**

**Class Skills:**

**Presence Concealment: A**

**Personal skills:**

**Expert of many specializations: (A+): **

**Counter Hero (C): Enforces a rank down on all the parameters of all Servants that can be classified as "Hero".**

**Battle Continuation: (A+): Nothing short of complete disintegration can kill this Servant.**

**Mental pollution: (C): Due to her 'unique' upbringing, Laura is a cutter with low self-esteem and severe depression as well as mental trauma.**

**Secret**** Identity: (N/A): Due to the Servant disguising themselves in life, unless their actual name their 'True identity beneath the mask' is revealed, then their Stats and Alignment are kept hidden even from their Master.**

**NP: **

**Healing factor (A) Support: Heals the Servant from any wound short of total disintegration.**

**Adamantium Claws (B+) Anti-Phantasm, Anti-Thaumaturgy: bone claws coated in a special metal that can cut through any mystery or NP that is B-ranked or below and fight on par with or deflect any NP or A-rank Mystery.**

**?: (?)**

**?: (?)**

**And there you have it folks, Laura Kinney laid (for the most part) bare to your scrutiny, also her endurance is so high due to her healing factor. Anyway hope you enjoyed the chap and, till next time, Bubbajack out! Peace!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Girl Genius, or anything else that may or may not make it into this fic.**

**Ch.5: Origins.**

_"__Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned, nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."_\- spoken by Zara in Act III, Scene VIII of The Mourning Bride by William Congreve.

* * *

Shirou was dreaming, this like the previous dream was odd. Again he knew he wasn't himself but someone something else. They praised him worshiped him for the light and light he gave off, and in turn he watched over them, granting them his radiance and saving them from both starvation and eternal darkness. Yet over time; he grew curious about the humans just like the humans would ants…and thus, decided to live among them for a time…

The scene changed and Shirou found he was in an in an old Japanese fishing village, the roofs covered in tile and weighted down with stone, the 'road' merely well-trod earth. He looked around for a bit as the people went about their duties, the men to the boats the woman took both clothes and fish to the nearby river to be cleaned. He felt the weight of a basket under his arm as he made his way over to the river. Upon reaching the edge watched the simplistic scene and felt a contented smile slip on his on his face for a moment, and then, he set down his bundle of clothes and looked at his reflection in the water, and that was when he saw her.

It was Caster; she was clad in a simple much simpler looking deep blue kimono her pink hair tied in a Japanese bun held in place with hair pins and carrying a load of laundry towards the river to be washed, and, Shirou noted she lacked her distinctive fox ears and tail making her appear to be a completely human girl of roughly eighteen years of age…and Shirou was currently looking through her amber eyes as if they were his own.

Then coming from the far end of the village, rapidly approaching hoof beats could be heard and Caster turned to find a fully armored samurai making his way into the village atop a black stallion proclaiming "All bow in respect to your lord, Emperor Toba!"

Soon enough a palanquin made of waxwood and covered in silk being carried by eight men could be seen, and all, including Misukume bowed in reverence to their emperor. The would-be Servant only moved when the Samurai called for all the women of the village to gather in the square in front of him for the Emperor to see, and she hastened to do so.

She stood, head bowed in the crowd full of nervous muttering women, her apprehension growing by the second. She let out a frightened squeak when suddenly the guard from before, who had now dismounted, pulled her roughly towards the palanquin before forcing her to kneel in front of it. After a long tense moment where she wondered whether she was going to be executed for some unknown offense, the voice of the Emperor spoke from behind the silken veil "I have seen you in my dreams…you will aid me in leading my empire into a new golden age, my Tamamo no Mea. Bring her!" he demanded.

The scene shifted to The Imperial Palace and the girl formerly known as Misukume was now known as Tamamo no Mea, most trusted and beloved advisor of the emperor… But not all were happy with this change, including Misukume herself. Her room was lavish yes, with the finest silken rugs on polished wooden floors, tapestries and fine water paintings hung from her walls, and her bed was stuffed with down feathers and covered in silken sheets. She even had her own personal musician, a great view of the palace grounds from her balcony, and handmaidens by the score. It was every peasant girls dream come true…and yet… Misukume recognized the gilded cage for what it was, a cage. Pretty and well-furnished perhaps, but a cage none the less.

She was not allow to leave the palace ground, and even more, not allowed to leave her room without a 'royal escort' of no less than a dozen bodyguards when she was summoned by the Emperor to give him council. But if that was not enough it seems the person she replaced as royal advisor one Abe no Semi, would not surrender the honor and prestige of being the emperors primary advisor so easily. She could see it in his eyes whenever she glanced at the man she saw the hatred for her in his eyes and the blackness in the depths of his soul.

Suppressing a shiver the girl thought _'Yes, no good can come of that one.'_

Her thoughts then turned to the Emperor himself he was clearly enamored with her, and yet she felt nothing for the man that, for all intents and purposes kidnapped her and imprisoned her in his court. Truth be told she missed her home and the simple life she had before. All she really wanted out of life was to marry and to be a good wife and mother to a good husband and child or children if the gods were willing.

_'__But at least my decisions here can make things easier for others.' _She mused.

It all came to an end a month later, one day, she awoke and found she now sported two golden fox ears and a tail. Fearful, she managed to hide her sudden growths. Yet when she showed up in court that day it was announced that the Emperor had taken to bed with some unknown illness. Over the next month the Emperor was reported to grow worse and worse and when the court physician couldn't determine the cause, all eyes turned to Abe no Semi for answers.

One divining later, and Tamamo's secret was out. When faced with an angry mob enticed by a man who hates her, what else could she do but run? And that is exactly what she did; she fled the palace in fear. Running for days on end sleeping in ditches during the day and traveling at night in hopes of eluding her pursuers but the dogs they brought had keen noses. And as she ran her despair grew, reaching its peak in the fields of Nasu where she finally let loose her anguish and cried for her circumstances.

She was surprised when she was approached by a family of foxes who spoke to her, saying ""You have come a long way." "What a rough journey you had."

She wished the foxes to understand her feelings and hoped they would encourage her instead. It was then she realized who she truly was, when the foxes comforted her. She was the goddess of the sun, the bringer of life and matriarch of the imperial line, she was Amaterasu or a facet of her at least.

"Ah, what a fool I was." She lamented bitterly as she was betrayed and hunted by humans who feared her. She did nothing wrong, she only tried to help them prosper. She was forced to flee the village simply because she wasn't human. Shirou watched through her eyes as her infamy grew at the plains of Nasu after fleeing from the court, as eighty thousand man army was dispatched at the order of the retired emperor to kill her. The soldier came screaming "Kill the fox demon!"

"Please, I'm sorry, this is all a grave misunderstanding!" She tried to apologize to them but nobody listened. After dodging a volley of arrows, she fought back with a determined look in her amber eyes saying "All right, let's do this!" and proceeded to kill everyone.

The men screamed as their prey took the form of something indescribable. Even Shirou couldn't tell what she had become, but he knew whatever it was, it was incredibly powerful, as soldiers screamed holding their heads as their minds were filled with visions of the worst atrocities human kind had committed. Most futility tried gouging out their own eyes to get the images to cease. Others were cooked inside there armor as they were baptized in holy flames as hot as the sun, others vomited up their own liquefied organs after being cursed, and the handful that remained were mercilessly slaughtered by an army that the 'demon fox' formed out of her own tails.

The second encounter against the force, she regretted her actions and tried to reason with them. In response, it rained arrows for three straight days and night and nothing seemed to register with them.

Standing in a hail of arrows covered in blood, she said sadly to herself "I wasn't trying to fool anyone. I'll leave now so please just forget all about me."

The assault continued from the humans filled with hatred, and it was then she realized humans were fragile and that was what made their lives precious. Yet they were also narrow minded, filled with hatred, and self-righteousness.

_'__I was wrong from the beginning, just like the humans and their belief in us. I saw them as ants and couldn't understand why they smiled… and they worship me, yet do not truly understand me at all.'_ She realized.

Yes, she was wrong from the beginning, much like the humans and religion. Her perspective influenced her belief. Even though a goddess, she was a fool and she didn't realize her mistake until her final moments. No matter how much humans respected god and through priesthood try to understand and be one of them, their efforts are wasted.

"There is no way for a human to become a god." Tamamo-no-Mae died screaming when shot in the side by an enchanted arrow. She was hunted and killed as an enemy of mankind. Yet she didn't want revenge because there are things that even a goddess can't do. All she really wanted the only wish she had left in her heart at the end was…

_'__I just…I just want to be a good wife to a good man.'_ She thought before she closed her eyes forever.

* * *

Shirou's eyes snapped open and he bolted upright causing his back to crack in protest and for his sheets to be thrown off as he shook his head in amazement and thought 'If what Raiga-san told me was true, I just experienced the dream cycle. A film reel of my Servants life, of Caster's life.'

Shirou once again went through what he'd seen and didn't know whether to smirk or frown. _'On the one hand, I summoned a facet of Amaterasu, I summoned an avatar of a damn goddess! On the other…she deserved a better end.'_

The last thought in his Servant's mind before she perished echoed through his as he sat on his futon _'I just…I just want to be a good wife to a good man.'_

Sighing, he rubbed his eyes and thought _'Is that her wish? Something so wholesome, so simple, so-_"What's this?" he said upon noticing his arm.

Shirou's arm, as well as his chest was heavily wrapped in gauze. He could also detect the distinct cloying smell of medicine. After a cursory sniff he identified it.

"Burn ointment? Why am I covered in burn ointment and bandages? I feel fine." Shirou said mildly confused as he peeled off the sticky bandages and mentally decided to take a bath before he cooked breakfast for everyone.

After washing himself in the shower and pouring water from the tub over himself to wash his hair, he got into the tub and proceeded to think specifically about how to approach Caster about what he'd discovered. 'Should I just ask her over breakfast? No, this is a bit too personal, and she might get offended.'

Shirou shivered at the thought of the avatar of the sun goddess herself being upset with him before he realized 'It already happened; the other night during dinner! But if she's this strong…is she holding back, or is the Grail System limiting her by placing her in a Class in some way? Or maybe-'

Shirou's thoughts were interrupted by a slightly frantic knocking at the bathroom door and moments later Aoko's worried voice asked "Shirou, are you in there?"

_'__Aoko sounds worried, I wonder what's wrong?'_ the magus wondered before he called "I'm here Aoko; but what's wrong?"

* * *

Aoko sighed on the other side of the door in relief upon hearing her fiancés voice before she replied "Thank goodness, and what do you mean '_what's wrong?'_ don't you remember what happened yesterday?"

There was silence from the other side of the door for a moment before Shirou replied "Umm no, but I'm assuming it has something to do with burn ointment and bandages?"

You got that right! She barked "You're lucky I don't come in there and-"Suddenly Aoko stopped at several things passed through her mind at once.

_'__Everyone else is still asleep, Shirou and I are the only ones up, and the whole reason I came here originally was to deepen our relationship…chance!'_ she thought smirking like a cat that caught the canary before quickly making her way back to her room and ignoring Shirou's calls for the moment…

* * *

Back in the bathroom, Shirou was confused as to why Aoko had suddenly stopped talking and when he called her name, she refused to answer he could come to only one conclusion _'She's up to something, but what?'_

He soon got his answer when Aoko's voice reverberated through the bathroom door softer and calmer than before "Ne, Shirou?"

"Yeah Aoko? He called confused by her sudden change in tone.

"We've been…I mean, we've known each other for seven years now right? And in that time, wouldn't you say we've become close? As friends, but possibly not as a couple?" She said nervously.

The third-rate magus thought about it for a long moment. _'Well it's true that, though we've been engaged a long time, we've never really gone on dates or anything like that because she lives so far away, being the Second Owner of Misaki Town and all. But I do send her Christmas presents and Valentine's Day cards. Still, I see where she's coming from a relationship were the two rarely see one another isn't much of a relationship at all.'_

"Yes." He replied.

"Good-"She said nervously before gaining some courage and trying again "Good, because the whole reason I originally came down here was to deepen our relationship, and that's what I intend on doing now."

_'__Huh, what does she mean by-oh.'_ Shirou thought dumbly as the bathroom door opened revealing Aoko in a red silk yukata that matched her hair color that just barely covered her thighs and showed off her long creamy legs. She quickly shut the door behind and turned around her revealing she had a deep red blush on her face that was offset by a determined look in her bright blue eyes.

She then spoke with a slight stutter "I-I admit I've never done anything like th-this before, but I feel like we should both be comfortable seeing each other naked come our wedding night so uh yeah, here goes."

Aoko then began to untie her obi that held her Yukata closed as Shirou could only watch in stunned fascination. She closed her eyes as she undid the silken fabric and then quickly shrugged the yukata off her shoulders, feeling it pool around her feet. As goose bumps spread across her arms she said "Well, what do you think?"

Shirou had trouble forming words at the moment for a couple of reasons. First of all, this was the first time seeing a woman naked. Sure he'd taken a sex-ed class, and Shinji bought him some porn magazines citing 'Every man needs a secret stash Emiya' but this was his first time seeing an actual in the flesh naked woman. What was more, is it wasn't just any naked woman, it was Aoko, his Aoko, and he'd never seen her this vulnerable before. Standing there, timid and afraid, waiting for his approval.

Seeing her like that what else could he say but "You look beautiful."

And it helped that he was being completely truthful too. Years of martial arts had not only kept her fit, but toned her stomach giving her the outlines of a six pack and her hips were full yet lacked fat making them lean and muscular as well sexy. Shirou was no expert; but if he had to guess, Aoko wore a metric E-cup bra, which considering her size was probably correct as he breasts were full but perky. And upon hearing what he said she smiled and swayed her way towards him sexily, causing her bust to sway in time with her hips proving her 'girls' were all natural.

Leaning down over the tub and giving him an excellent view before fluttering her eyes at him and saying demurely "You don't look too bad yourself."

Aoko then experimentally ran her hand through the water, nodding upon finding it to her liking before she slid into the tub next to her husband to be. She then let out a sigh of relief before glancing over at Shirou and noticing he was as stiff as a board. Aoko frowned a bit as she thought _'This is not what I had in mind. We'll never get anywhere if he's like this all the time, I know, let's try this.'_

Acting quickly before Shirou could stop her, she reached under the water and grabbed his hands before placing them on her breasts.

"A-Aoko-c-Chan what are you d-doing?!" Shirou squeaked out.

"Shirou-"Aoko said seriously while looking into his eyes and doing her best to ignore how great it felt to have his hands on her breasts "-you need to relax, ok? You and I are going to be married after you graduate high school and in that time, I would like to grow closer to you between now and then."

"D-o you mean ah-"Shirou said looking down into the bathtub and back at her several times hoping she would get his meaning. Unfortunately for him she did as her face turned the color of her hair and she promptly slapped him upside the head saying "N-no idiot! You're not getting _that_ until our wedding night, I can guarantee you that. I just want to be closer to you, to deepen our skinship if you take my meaning. Do you understand?"

Slowly Shirou nodded realizing Aoko wanted to get the awkwardness at being around each other naked out of the way before the wedding night. He relaxed his muscles, releasing the tension that had been mounting in his shoulders before he glanced down at his hands and asked "What now?"

"Umm, I dunno honestly. I didn't really think this far ahead." The Fifth Magician replied as the feeling of her fiancé's hands on her chest redoubled upon him pointing it out.

Shirou didn't think it was fair that his hands were where they were and Aoko wasn't doing anything, so he detached one of his hands and doing his best to ignore the jiggling that happened when he did, he took Aoko's hand and placed it on his own chest saying "There that's better huh?"

Aoko slowly ran her hand over Shirou's chest, she felt his heart beat strong, steady, and fast. She stopped and frowned when her hand passed over the long scar that marred the center of his flesh, and then thinking back again to what happened last night, she promptly slapped him twice upside the head still frowning.

"Ouch, ok what did I do now?" Shirou asked utterly bewildered as he rubbed his sore head.

"That was for almost dying on me twice now! First you almost bleed out after getting stabbed to death, then yesterday, you decided to test that chair on yourself first and it goes haywire, frying you with electricity and giving you third degree burns across eighty percent of your body before launching you out of your workshop."

Shirou blinked with his mouth agape for a moment before he said "Really? Did anything odd show up on the computer screen before that happened?"

"I don't know; I was a little concerned about my fiancé that was **_on fire_** at the time." Aoko deadpanned.

"Right, sorry-"he said awkwardly before saying sincerely "-sorry for worrying you Aoko."

The fifth Magician merely sighed and snuggled into her husband-to-be's chest as she wrapped her arms around him and said "I know you are, I just wish you'd think about how other people might feel before you put yourself into stupidly dangerous situations like that…"

She then lifted her head off his chest and gave him his first chaste kiss on the lips before saying "Then again, you wouldn't be my Shirou if you did." She then brightened and said with a cheerful smile "So I'll just have to be your common sense from now on, so don't go running off without me, ok?"

Shirou smiled warmly at her proclamation and said "You got it, I don't intend on going anywhere without you from now on, so stick close by ok?"

"Mmmhmm." Aoko replied laying her head on his shoulder, Shirou reciprocated by placing his arm around her.

The two magi enjoyed the amicable silence for a time before Shirou broke it by saying "Hey Aoko?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"I learned something interesting about Caster last night…during my dreams…" Shirou replied cryptically.

Sitting up and sloshing the bathwater slightly Aoko gave her paramour a curious look and with an eyebrow raised asked "What?"

Smirking Shirou replied "She's not a normal Servant, not even close."

Her eyebrow rose higher and she asked "How so?"

He then told her what he saw in his dreams the previous night and by the time he was finished, Aoko's other eyebrow had joined the first and her jaw had slackened. Upon seeing her expression Shirou said "So you see my dilemma, what do you think I should do?"

Aoko's mouth clicked shut after Shirou addressed her and she took a deep breath through her nose before letting it out through her mouth before saying "You should talk to her privately at some point today. Maybe while working on the car that Raiga-san is supposed to be delivering today?"

Shirou blinked "I'd forgotten all about that, I was so excited about my invention last night…" Shirou considered the impromptu plan Aoko had suggested and said "That could work."

Shirou then noticed that the water was getting cold meaning he and Aoko must have been in the bath together quite a while. So he turned to her and said "I think we should get out. I need to start breakfast, and I don't think you'd appreciate everyone else asking questions."

Aoko merely scoffed and said "Let them talk, we're betrothed we can do what we want."

The two then got out and toweled off and Aoko took this opportunity to sneak a peek at what Shirou was packing between his legs. The Fifth Magician liked what she saw and licked her lips as she thought _'He's bigger than average, only seventeen and already fourteen centimeters while standing at attention. He'll probably be around nineteen centimeters by the time he's twenty. Lucky me.'_

"Aoko-chan did you hear me?" Shirou asked.

"Hmm what was that?" She asked shaking her head out of the gutter.

"I was wondering if you wanted something specific for breakfast." Shirou reiterated.

Aoko's mouth briefly formed an 'o' before she said "No, I'm not in the mood for anything in particular-"She then paused before saying "But-I would like to help you make breakfast if that's alright?"

Shirou was surprised for a moment at Aoko's offer before he smiled and said "Yeah, I'd like that."

* * *

As the two magi worked in the kitchen, Aoko occasionally stole a glance at her paramour and couldn't help but shudder as she thought back to his condition last night. The smell of charred flesh, the way his body flopped like a dead fish as it hit the ground, his silver eyes staring at the sky in shock…

_'__Wait, silver eyes?'_ The Magician distinctly remembered one thing in particular, she was so distracted by this thought that she wasn't paying attention to the onion that she was currently cutting and accidently cut her index finger, making her wince in pain.

Shirou was by her side in moments, a concerned look in his golden brown eyes as he asked "Are you alright Aoko-chan?"

Nodding Aoko held her bleeding digit and replied "I'm fine, I just wasn't paying attention."

Shirou nodded only to take her hand in his and bring it up to eye level and after examining the wound briefly before taking it in his mouth and sucking on it briefly, causing Aoko to blush, before going under the sink and coming back up with a bin full of medical supplies and after spraying some Neosporin on the wound he wrapped in it an band aid and said "You should be more careful Aoko-chan."

Smiling at his caring attitude Aoko replied "Right; sorry, but you know I could've healed this Magic right?"

Shirou nodded "But I think something like that should only be used in emergencies. So, what distracted you anyway?" he asked as he threw away the onion she had spilt blood on and began chopping a new one.

Deciding to secretly test her theory Aoko replied "Shirou, can you do me a favor really quickly?"

"Yeah?" Shirou said distractedly as he was multitasking on cooking breakfast and listening to her.

"Send some prana to your eyes real quick and then look at me." Aoko requested.

Shirou stopped cutting the onion and, after checking to make sure nothing was burning turned to Aoko with a confused look and asked "Why?"

Sighing in frustration Aoko snapped at him "I saw something last night I need to confirm, so just do it ok?"

Shirou blinked thinking _'Aoko never snaps like that unless it involves her sister or is serious, so this must be the latter. Better do as she says.'_

That thought in mind, Shirou sent some prana to his eyes…and his entire world turned upside down.

"What the hell?" he muttered in astonish awe as he looked around himself.

Everything was a shade of light blue, and Shirou could see all around him_-'But it's more than that-'_he realized with shock that everything in his kitchen including Aoko herself was suddenly laid up before him in the form of a 3-D map a blueprint he could easily understand and comprehend as it was much like his use of Gradation Air.

He focused on Aoko and the first thing he noticed was a thin red line going from her left little finger to his. But as he focused more on her; she became both more and less defined. He could instinctively tell that her shirt was made of cotton and her shirt of rough fabric. His head started to hurt. Ignoring the pain and looking closer his eyes seemed to zoom in looking right through her clothes and he then noticed other things. Seven small white lines stacked almost minutely on top of each other represented her skin and he went deeper, increasing the pain in the back of his skull in the process. He could see her flesh, organs and veins, outlined in red, pink and purple respectively. His sight zoomed in on an oddity inscribed onto the flesh of her left forearm in shining white.

As he focused on it, his mind was bombarded with information on the manipulation of time flow, bits and pieces of Kabbalah, and Akasha and along with all that lancing pain through his skull. The last thought Shirou had before he passed out was _'Did I just read her Magic Crest?'_

* * *

Shirou was rudely awoken by having water thrown in his face. Sputtering for a moment, he looked up into the worried face of Aoko standing above him, who was holding an empty glass. Leaning down to his level, and Shirou quickly surmised he was on the floor of his kitchen, she asked concernedly "Shirou are you alright?"

Nodding, Shirou weakly managed to stand up which caused his head to swim. Aoko hovered around him like a worried mother over her sickly child, her concerned look never leaving her face. "What happened?"

"It was so weird, I could see everything around me, but in blueprint form, then I decided to focus on one particular thing."

When Shirou paused Aoko became impatient and asked "What?"

"You-"This threw the Fifth Magician for a loop as he continued "I could see each individual layer of skin, flesh, your organs, your bones, and all the while I was getting a mounting headache then I saw something…else, and curiosity got the better of me."

Growling in annoyance and narrowing her ocean blue eyes at him Aoko said "Shirou-kun, now is not the time for secrets. **_What. Happened?"_**

Shirou winced at her tone and said in an apologetic voice "I might've accidently snuck a peek at your magic crest…sorry."

Aoko blinked twice, paling, before leaning against the counter for support and saying shakily "Y-you're sure? You're absolutely sure you were able to analyze my Mage Crest just by looking at it?"

Giving a hesitant nod he replied "Yeah there was information on Kabbalah, time manipulation bounded fields, and directions on how to reach Akasha itself using that method."

"Shit." Aoko swore before grabbing Shirou by his shoulders and looking him in the eye said quite seriously "Shirou, Rin cannot learn about your eyes do you understand?"

"Huh, Rin? Why-"Shirou was interrupted by Aoko shaking him and saying "Because she is the Second Owner of Fuyuki and a Magus! She answers to the Clocktower in London and unlike me, she isn't a Magician which gives me a bit of leeway when it comes to certain things."

Aoko huffed before continuing "But Rin? She would probably do anything to get into the Clocktowers good graces, including say, letting them know about a possible twice over Sealing Designate?"

Seeing his shocked look Aoko nodded knowingly and said "Oh yes; that Throne of yours would definitely get you a Sealing Designation and then those eyes of yours…Shirou, Rin can never know about your eyes ok?" Aoko said worriedly before adding quietly "I don't want to lose you."

Now, Shirou didn't think Rin was as bad as Aoko was making her out to be in her head, but at the same time, he knew she was raised as a Magus and they were currently in the middle of a Greater Ritual in which the last man standing would get any wish they so desired. And he currently outnumbered her two to one. So for all he knew she could be biding her time waiting to stab him in the back…

_'__But then, why would she save me if it was against the rules to let witnesses live?'_ he thought.

"You were an innocent bystander then." a pessimistic British sounding voice in the back of his head reminded him.

_'__That's true, but after I summoned my Servants why didn't she take the chance to eliminate me?'_

"Sentimentality, pity, some possibly misplaced feeling of love perhaps? What does it matter as long as you are alive and hold the upper hand? But still, Aoko speaks sense, until Tohsaka's loyalty can be assured, it would be best to keep your new ocular abilities hidden."

_'__Right, than-'wait a minute, who the hell are you?!'_

A snort was heard and the voice soon replied "I'm someone you really should listen to more often, I'm your common sense, that logical part of you, the part you often ignore being a reckless idiot, you witless twit."

_'__Am I losing my mind?' Shirou asked-'himself?' fearfully._

"You tell me, you're the one talking to yourself and hearing someone answer back." Common Sense snarked back.

Shaking his head to clear it; he looked at Aoko and nodded saying "We'll keep this from the others till everything settles down. For now, let's just focus on finishing breakfast."

* * *

By the time everyone else in the Emiya house had made their way groggily to the table, Shirou and Aoko had cooked up a full continental breakfast consisting of French toast, omelets, sausage, bacon, white rice, miso soup, grilled fish, milk, tea, and orange juice.

Everyone was shocked to see an unharmed Shirou sitting with a polite calm smile on his face at the table. Greeting them cheerfully Shirou said "Good morning everyone, if you would all sit down we can eat while this is hot."

Everyone blinked twice before glancing at each other and merely shrugging before taking their seats around the dining table. Shirou thought he'd heard Rin mutter something about 'bullshit hax healing abilities' but he chose to ignore it and proceeded to eat.

About halfway through the meal, Kentaro groaned and said "Ok dude, I gotta know, are you like a cyborg like the Terminator or something?" he asked pointing his chopsticks at Shirou accusingly.

"Umm no, not that I know of." The redhead replied honestly.

Narrowing his eyes Ken pointed his chopsticks at his host and accused "Then how the hell did you heal so fast after receiving third degree burns over like eighty percent of your body yesterday? Cause that's not normal dude."

Taking a bite of his omelet before answering, Shirou replied "I'm aware of that, and I intend to get answers after breakfast, as the Throne should've recorded any problems as a failsafe to be fixed later-"Shirou then paused before asking "I can't remember so could someone tell me if I was the first person in the Throne last night or not?"

Everyone else at the table suddenly shared an 'Oh shit' look as if they had forgotten something important.

Suddenly the front door opened and a depressed sounding Taiga trudged slowly into the room, her shoulders slumped and back hunched with a long look on her face "Hey everyone, I'm back. How is Shirou doing did he wake up…at…all." Taiga broke off as she saw her little brother sitting at the table seemingly perfectly fine after receiving several hundred thousand bolts through his body that charred his skin and cooked his flesh.

She stared at him a moment, in which time Shirou said "Now Fuji-nee before you blow things out of proportion I would just like to say that I have no idea how-"Shirou was cut off by Taiga yelling "SHI-ROU~!" all the while stomping up to him and then, taking him by the scruff of his shirt and violently shaking him, all the while yelling "Do you have any idea how worried I was about you?! What the heck happened with that machine-no, better question, how did you heal so quickly?"

"Fuji-nee, Fuji-nee…FUJI-NEE?!" Shirou yelled getting the frantic Oni's attention before pointing to the spread laid out on the table "Would you like to discuss this over breakfast?"

Upon seeing the food, Taiga's mouth watered and she promptly dropped her surrogate younger brother all concern for his safety forgotten in light of filling her stomach with food…

* * *

**At the same time in another universe…**

In the lands of the Storm King Tarvek Sturmvoraus, all was not well. One could argue it had something to do with the monsters in the sewers, others might speculate that it may be to the ongoing war with Baron von Wulfenbach. But the truth was much, much worse in Tarvek's opinion. One Agatha Heterodyne was in the Madness Place, what was more, she was angry, angry at him specifically and she currently had a viselike grip on his balls, and seemed intent on crushing them to powder.

"Agatha-"he squeaked "Please, let me go. D-Dear, say something! Please?" Tarvek whined to his wife, Zeetha who was currently holding the Heterodynes ex-husband in a crushing chokehold replied "Sorry _honey_, I'm a little busy at the moment. Plus, you kind of deserve what you're getting right now."

"Thanks for noth-EEK!" Tarvek squeaked out as Agatha applied more pressure to his bits.

Tarvek, could you be a dear and please…**PAY ATTENTION!"** Agatha snapped slipping into her command voice.

"Y-Yes ma'am?!" Tarvek managed to get out.

Loosening her grip, Agatha's voice became falsely cheery and she said "Good, now would you please tell me why you thought making a viable way to cross dimensions and not telling me was a good idea? More so, would you enlighten me as to why you thought sending Henderson Tryggvassen to get my son was in even the slightest way smart?! **WELL!?" **she demanded.

"Well, it was Othar's idea and we didn't know what would happen if we sent a person through so-"He was cut off as Agatha finished for him "You used him as a guinea pig. I presume you have some way of knowing about the results of this test?"

Nodding rapidly Tarvek replied "Yes, we placed a microchip under his skin that keeps a certain 'frequency' of this universe around him at all times allowing use to not only track him but also monitor his vitals from here."

"So he's alive then?" upon seeing Tarvek nod, she loosened her grip slightly and inquired further "Do you have more of these chips?"

What she was implying seemed to frighten the Storm King for he said "Agatha, you can't seriously be considering-EH!" Tarvek said as the grip on his groin became viselike again in an instant.

"Do not presume to tell me what I can or cannot do Tarvek! Not when it comes to my son! Now do you have more of those chips or not?" Agatha hissed.

"Yes, in the hypodermic needle over there." He said pointing to a nearby table that had three syringes laying on it.

Letting him go and wiping her hands on her dress, Agatha picked up one of the syringes. Taking off the needle cap, she promptly poked herself in the arm before pushing down the plunger. Moments later she saw Zeetha doing the same, much to her surprise "Zeetha, what are you-"

Only for the Skifanderian to scoff and say "Like I can let you go alone Zumil besides, every time I let you out of my sight you get into trouble."

"Gee thanks Zeetha." Agatha retorted dryly.

"Even if we send you over there with the injections, how are you going to find him?" Tarvek pointed out.

Agatha stopped for a moment, but just a moment she quickly turned to Zeetha and asked "Do you still have William's baby book?"

Seeing her Kolee nod she said "Go get it please."

Zeetha looked confused but quickly complied returning moments later with said book. Agatha stared at the picture of the sleeping red haired babe on the cover for a moment before shaking herself and turning the pages until she came to a specific one. Upon reaching it, she pulled out a small bundle of red hair, before turning to Tarvek and saying "This is how I'll find him."

"Using the hair from his first haircut?" Tarvek rubbed his chin for a moment before nodding and saying "That could likely work."

"I know it will now lead me to the machine." Agatha demanded.

* * *

Zeetha and Agatha soon found themselves standing on a scorched metal platform over which three electrodes were triangulated standing several feet away, were both Tarvek and Othar behind crescent shaped control panel. Despite everything that's happened so far, Tarvek tried one more time to persuade his friend and wife not to do this "We don't even know how to bring you back or how long the chip will transmit for! For the love of Science, don't do this!"

"Shut up and throw the switch!" Agatha called back.

Sighing, Tarvek pulled a lever which fired up the turbines that powered the electrodes, over the high-pitched whine of the engines, he pulled down a pair of protective goggles before hitting the Big Red Button and zapping the two standing on the metal dais. As the flash of light cleared and the light died down Tarvek whispered "Good luck you two."

In the silence that followed Othar said "You know that even after they make it back you're going to be blue balled for a long time right?"

Tarvek could only scoff and say "I already am, thanks to your ex-wife."

* * *

**In the Nasuverse**

It was a cold day in December in a junk yard on the outskirts of Fuyuki City that one Agatha Heterodyne and Zeetha Sturmvoraus appeared in a flash of light, both completely naked as the day they were born.

Upon noticing this the first thing that Agatha did was put a hand to her throat to find her locket missing, yet she was still herself. The second thing she did was crouch down to preserve her modesty and hide from the biting wind as best she could.

"Umm Zeetha, I don't know if you've noticed, but our clothes are gone, my locket is gone."

"What, and yet your still yourself…interesting." She commented before looking around and noticing their surrounds that Zeetha said "You say here and try to build something to locate your son, I'll find us some clothes…"

* * *

After clearing the remaining food on the table, Taiga's mood was much more amicable than before, and she was actually willing to listen to reason which led her picking her teeth with a piece of fishbone as she glared at her 'little brother' through narrowed half-lidded eyes and said "Explain."

"I…Have no idea what happened. But!-"Shirou said quickly and loudly before Taiga could go into full on rant mode "-I think I know how we can find out…"

This is why minutes later the Emiya group, found themselves crowded around the redheaded magus as he was hunched over his own laptop typing commands into a computer screen. Bits of code scrolled down the screen like something out of the Matrix for a moment until finally a screen that was nearly blank except for a file that said "File Recovery "

Clicking the file a prompt showed up saying "Show in pdf format? Y/N."

Shirou clicked yes and was greeted by a list of everyone who had used the machine prior to him. It seems that he was the last person to use the machine and only three other people went before him, according to it, as the list read:

Subject: Aoko Aozaki Aoko Aozaki- Origin: [Conversion] Elements (Air) Age: 38 (1962, Jul 7)

Granted Abilities: Rabbit: Super Speed, Cancer: Hypergrip and Constriction.

Subject: Tohsaka Rin Origin: [Perfection] Elements: (Average One) Age: 1 7 (1984, Feb 3)

Granted Abilities: Pig: Heat Vision, Aquarius: Water Manipulation, Ice Manipulation, Water Mimicry, and Air Manipulation.

Subject: Taiga Fugimura- Origin- [Victory] Elements: N/A Age: 25 (1975 Feb 10)

Granted Abilities: Tiger: Yin Yang Manipulation, Aquarius: Water Manipulation, Ice Manipulation, Water Mimicry, and Air Manipulation.

Subject: Shirou_ Emiya? Origin: [Manufacture] Elements: (Lightning, Metal) Age 10 (Dec 20 1990)

Granted Abilities: Horse: Healing, Sagittarius: Enhanced Marksmanship, Enhanced Vision, Enhanced Tracking, Enhanced Hunting skill, and Fire Manipulation.

Error, Error! Warning foreign anomaly detected! System override…Rewriting system parameters to account for foreign non-human anomaly… please wait as the anomaly is defined…anomaly semi-identified closest match found, citation from Dungeons and Dragons wikia: Demiplane: A Conjuration School Spell under the (creation) sub tree; requires Level cleric 7, sorcerer/wizard 7, and witch 7, and lv 5 for summoner. Definition of a Demiplane, - a plane of existence, who contents, and form are controlled consciously by the caster, or is reflected solely by the casters nature. Range…"

Shirou stared at the screen for a long, long moment before a singular thought crossed his mind _'What…the…hell?'_

_'__This can't be right, Dungeons and Dragons is just a game a- wait a minute, 'reflected solely by the casters nature' that sounds like a…'_

"You have a Reality Marble." Rin said in shocked and sickened tones.

Taking a deep calming breath Shirou replied "So it seems Tohsaka so it seems."

Before anyone could say anything else a loud rhythmic *Thump, Thump, Thump* was heard, like the sound of pounding feet, before the brief screeching sound of metal on asphalt echoed through the air, and then there was a looming and sudden silence…

"I'll go see about whatever caused that noise, the rest of you wait here." Altria commanded before she rushed out of the shed towards the front gate.

After a moment, Altria popped her head back into the shed looking rather stunned saying "Shirou some people are here to see you."

Becoming concerned Shirou asked his Servant "Saber, is everything alright?"

Altria shook her head and replied "I believe you need to come see this for yourself Shirou. I couldn't begin to describe it myself."

Now thoroughly enticed, Shirou nodded and followed his Servant to the front gate only to stop and stare and for good reason. For standing at the entrance to his home was what could best be described as a 'V8 engine with legs' or more aptly a giant 'Robot chicken'. As the machine standing outside his gate looking like a giant mechanical chicken with double jointed legs and a body primarily consisting of an engine block and what appeared to be a Toshiba laptop monitor for a 'face'. Several pistons sticking out of the things back moved rapidly up and down, releasing acrid smelling black smoke and ironically making chugging sounds that vaguely imitated the clucking of a chicken.

But the machine wasn't the only odd thing; as standing on either side of the thing were two women in full biker gear. One was a bespectacled, hazel eyed blonde, with pale skin, who; despite the weather, was wearing nothing more than daisy dukes, a tube top, black leather biker boots, and a leather jacket. She looked especially uncomfortable in her current attire. Doing her best to cover herself as much as possible, which wasn't surprising considering it was late December.

The other woman by contrast had dusky skin and… _'Does she have dark green hair?' _Shirou wondered. And she looked entirely too comfortable in her own red tube top and daisy dukes, sporting thigh high leather boots and a simple leather vest, along with a pair of fingerless gloves, leaning casually against the gate. Both women seemed to be in their late thirties to early forties.

The blonde turned to the giant robo-chicken and said "Are you this is the place? It certainly doesn't seem like anywhere my son would have a lair…"

The giant metal biped gave an offended sounding "Bawcock" affirmation causing the woman to hold her hands up calmingly and say "Fine if you're sure, we can at least check. What can it hurt right?"

Seeing the group of young women; the blonde called "Umm hello there, do any of you happen to speak English?"

Aoko, looked to the others and said "I've got this." Steeping forwards she "Hello, I'm Aoko Aozaki and this is my fiancé's estate, can I help you?"

Hearing English caused the woman to breathe a sigh of relief and say "Thank goodness- ahem, but where are my manners? I am Agatha Heterodyne and this is my companion Zeetha Sturmvoraus."

She motioned to the green haired woman who nodded politely but remained silent as she continued "We are looking for my son that has been missing about ten years now, and we believe he may be in the area. Tell me, do you know of any auburn haired teenagers with hazel colored eyes?"

Aoko stared at the woman in shock for a moment before disappearing into the throng of women, after a moment an argument in the strange foreign dialect could be heard, and to Agatha's ears it sounded rather heated between this Aoko woman and a young man, likely her fiancé. While she and Zeetha had no clue what was being said everyone else didn't have that problem.

"Oi Aoko-chan, dono yō ni kanojo wa watashinohaha no anzen ni suru koto ga dekimasu ka?!" she heard him say. [Aoko-chan, what makes you think she is my mother?"]

"Anata wa anata no hoka ni, kono machi ni arida to omoimasu dono yō ni ōku no akai kami, hashibami-me no tīn'eijā Shirou-kun?" [How many other teenagers can you think of in town that have red hair and hazel eyes Shirou-kun?]

The male voice was silent for moment before he said "…Dore no?" [None?]

"Sonotōri; Dore no, ima soko ni tachiagatte aisatsu." [Exactly; none, now get up there and say hello.]

"Hai, Hai." L"Yeah, yeah."] He said.

The crowd of women parted to reveal a young man standing at 5'4 or 1.67 meters with messy reddish-auburn hair and her own hazel eyes and her ex-husbands narrow facial features and her alethic build.

Gasping in shock Agatha just managed to get out "W-William, is that you?"

Tilting his head to the side in curiosity the young man replied in English "I don't go by William, but you look almost exactly like your picture in the locket."

_'__He knows about the locket! But he said he doesn't go by William, so then what…you're over thinking things Agatha!' _She chastised herself before focusing back on the man in front of her and asking almost timidly "So what do you go by then?"

"My adoptive father called me Shirou it means Samurai-it's the equivalent to a Knight I guess" he added upon seeing her confused look "-and Master in English. My last name Emiya could mean several things, but the Old Man always said Princess Protector fit me best."

Agatha briefly looked around at all the women that nearly outnumbered the men two to one and said "So it seems. But you're wrong about-"She stopped to shiver as a sudden breeze passed by, prompting Shirou to take her by the hand and say "Let's take this inside, mom."

As he led her towards the house to get into some warmer clothing and a nice cup of tea Shirou did one other thing, though he hated himself for it, he muttered "Trace on."

As he walked he scanned his so-called mother just to make sure it wasn't the primary Caster of this War hoping to get the drop on him via an illusion. By the time he led her into the kitchen he had at least verified that she was using no magecraft which meant she really did look like the woman from his locket, meaning she could, could be his mother…and he could be her son. The similarities' she bore to the woman's picture in his locket couldn't be ignored so he decided to give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment.

After leading her into the dining room he bade her to sit down on the cushions, which she found curiously amusing for some reason, while he tried to find something more suitable for her and her friend to wear.

_'__I know the Old Man kept some clothes he said belonged to his late wife around here somewhere.' _Shirou thought as he went through the master bedroom that was Kiritsugu's when he was alive, and that Shirou couldn't bring himself to clear out.

It took ruffling through a small mountain of boxes but he finally found several labeled _'Iri's things'_ pushed all the way in the back, as if they were a painful reminder of the past.

Sifting through the boxes for a bit, he finally found something weather appropriate. Taking it back to the living room he placed them in her arms and said "Here, I found some clothes for you and Zeetha-san, you can change in the bathroom down the hall there, while I put a pot of tea on."

Accepting the clothing with a thankful smile, Agatha said "Thank you sweetheart, I'll be right back after I change into these."

After he was sure she was out of earshot, Shirou quietly called "Laura, I need you please."

Seconds later Laura Kinney phased into existence wearing her usual attire, a curious look on her face as she asked "What's wrong Shirou?"

Nodding towards the bathroom, he replied "I need you to keep an eye on Agatha-san. While she does look like the person in my locket, that doesn't mean she can't possibly be the other Caster of this War in disguise. So until I know for sure I want you to-what, what's wrong?" he asked upon seeing the 'look' Assassin was currently giving him, which was a keen understanding gaze mixed with disappointment.

"Shirou, you don't need to be scared you know?" she told him.

Raising an eyebrow he replied "Scared, I'm not scared Laura."

Crossing her arms over her chest Shirou's Assassin didn't seem convinced as she said "Oh really? So you mean to tell me after having the first thing you can remember basically be that of walking through that hell, and loosing Kiritsugu at twelve, and basically being alone ever since?-"Shirou opened his mouth to protest or possibly ask how she knew this, only for the Servant to cut to the quick saying "What, you thought the dream cycle only worked one way? No, but let's stay on topic here Shirou, you took care of Taiga more than she did you."

Laura's redheaded master sighed before reluctantly nodding, prompting her to continue "That's what I thought. After Kiritsugu died, you were alone. Don't get me wrong; I mean, Aoko-san is great; but there's a big difference from someone 'being there' and someone 'being around', and I have a feeling she wasn't a lot when you were younger was she, leaving you to more or less on your own to fend for yourself?"

Again Shirou nodded, although he didn't resent either Aoko or Fuji-nee, it would've been nice to have someone around for more than just school breaks or just around to gobble down the food that he made only to dash off. Of course there was Sakura, but she had only been around the past year or so, and before that, he was on his own.

Laura nodded herself "I figured as much." Laura then gently cupped the side of her master's face and chuckled softly saying "We're so much alike it isn't even funny you know?"

This threw Shirou for a loop "We are?" he inquired.

Now it was the Assassin's turn to be surprised "Oh, so you haven't been through my dream cycle yet?"

Upon seeing her master shake his head, she said "Well then, no spoilers…well, maybe a little one." She said after a moment before turning around and heading towards the kitchen door only to look back at him briefly and say "I'd give anything to see my mother again, so I got to say you're pretty lucky right now."

"Wait." Shirou called just as Laura put her hand on the door. "How can you be so sure she's my mother?"

Assassin paused before she replied "Canines have enhanced senses, and because of my abilities in life I have senses rivaling if not surpassing a bloodhound, and you Shirou; you smell like iron, and ash, and burnt ozone primarily, but beneath that there is another scent, a human scent, a scent you share with Agatha-san."

Assassin then dematerialized, leaving a slightly stunned Shirou behind but before he could think too deeply on his Servants parting words, the tea kettle began to whistle, reminding him he had tea to prepare, and a guest, his mother to entertain.

_'__I guess I can give her the benefit of the doubt. Especially if Laura feels so strongly about it.' _He thought while pouring tea into several cups before going into the kitchen where Aga-his mother and Zeetha-san were already waiting.

His mother was now wearing a black blouse, a snow white skirt with black stockings, and white leather riding boots that went up to her mid-thighs'.

Zeetha by contrast was wearing something entirely different than what he'd set out for her. Rather than the black dress he'd set out for her, she was clad in a completely black three piece suit, with the buttons of the shirt slightly undone to show off her cleavage and the tie around her neck hanging loosely as if added by an afterthought.

_'__Maybe the dress was too girly for her.'_ Shirou thought as he put the tea tray down in front of the two before asking "Where is everyone else?"

Smiling the green haired amazoness replied "I 'convinced' them to give us some time alone."

"They are still breathing right?" Shirou asked fearful for his friends health all of the sudden.

Smirking Zeetha replied "Of course, I merely commented on how funny I found it that the parents of so many young girls didn't mind them staying at a young man's house unsupervised, that seemed to get two of them rushing around to make calls."

"You've been hanging around Tarvek too much Zeetha, a few years ago you would've told them to leave us alone and if they bothered us, you would've attacked them." Agatha pointed out.

Glancing at the blonde the greenette replied "You mean you didn't sense how strong several of those women were outside? I'd assumed they were constructs created by your son, so strong was their battle aura."

Agatha gushed "Only seventeen and already creating constructs, I'm so proud of you honey!"

Shirou was confused and said as much "Construct? What do you mean?"

Agatha smiled at him and replied "No need to be coy, you know full well that a construct is a living or once living organism enhanced by, brought back to, or given life or through science. We covered this when you were five and a half, though I suppose it's been awhile and childhood memories have been known to fade with time so-"Agatha stopped talking when she noticed her son had a pained look on his face.

Growing concerned she asked "Is there something wrong dear? You know you can tell me anything right?" she said ignoring her tea and reaching across the table to gently grasp his hand with her own.

Looking into her hazel eyes that were so full of concern for his being Shirou no longer had any doubt in his mind that this woman was no mere stranger, but his own mother…no one else would show that much concern for a total stranger.

This is why he; with a heavy heart had to tell her the truth.

"I'm sorry mom, but I don't remember anything prior to a fire that happened her ten years ago."

Agatha's concerned look only deepened and she became startled as she said "What?"

Taking a deep breath, Shirou forced himself to remember that day…The smell of fire, smoke, and charred flesh. The sounds of the damned and the dying as they begged him for help only to be ignored and consumed moments later by the raging inferno, along with the sounds of buildings crashing down as their internal structure became too compromised. The sight of charred corpses; some half crushed under rubble. Others of fathers hunched protect over their wives and children as if they could use their own bodies as shields to protect them from the flames.

Through it all he kept walking ignoring the horrors and cries for deliverance if only so he could live a little longer, he kept going sacrificing everything, the ache in his muscles didn't matter, his past didn't matter, who he was didn't matter. Because what did the flames care about who he was? If he stopped he would die, if he turned back to help another he would perish. So he kept going; until he couldn't anymore, having nothing left to give, he collapsed upon a hill of rubble that had several pieces of rebar sticking out of it. It was then that it began to rain, as if the kami's themselves were weeping for him.

He reached for the heavens in a futile gesture of defiance, just as he was about to close his eyes for the final time, another hand a much larger one grasped his. He just managed to look over to see an older man in a shabby black suit sporting a grin like one who had just found salvation, with tears in his eyes the man said "You, you're alive! Thank goodness, you I can save."

"I remember thinking I wish I could make someone that happy, next thing I know, I'm waking up in a hospital bed and the Old Man Kiritsugu Emiya, was adopting me as his son." Shirou finished.

Agatha's bangs covered her eyes but the shaking of her shoulders and the teardrops periodically fell on the tabletop, did more to show how she felt about what she was told than she could ever have possibly put into words.

_'__Damn you Othar, see what your stupid experiment has done to our-no my son, you don't deserve to call yourself a father after this.'_ Agatha thought through bitter tears.

Taking a deep, calming, if shuddering breath, Agatha said "I'm so, so sorry you had to go through that dear, but now I suppose it makes sense why you didn't recognize me or respond to your name. I named you William after my father Bill, however I'm certain not going to ask you to go by another name. Not now, not when Shirou is all you've…you've known."

Agatha managed to chuckle a bit "Besides William is the nuanced form of Wilhelm which is olden English for 'Will Helmet' or more commonly, 'Will Protect' so even though it's different Shirou Emiya still, in essence, means the same thing."

Agatha paused for a moment before saying "Shirou Emiya Heterodyne has a nice ring to it."

Shirou wanted to tell her that his official last name would technically either be Hencho which translates to 'radio music' or more than likely Tenga which meant ' peerless; incomparable; superlative; world-famous'. But there were more important matters to attend to at the moment, like the fact that he had a huge target on his back being involved in a winner take all death tournament, for example.

"Mom, there is something else you should know, I'm something called a Magus, one who is capable of bending the laws of nature using magic. Kiritsugu trained me in this art before he passed away several years ago." Shirou told her swiftly.

"Magic, sweetheart are you feeling ok?" Agatha asked.

In response Shirou gave he a deadpan look before saying in an equally dry voice "Then explain this with science." Before he rolled up his sleeves and materialized a kitchen knife in one hand.

Agatha blinked twice, her mouth agape before she fixed her glasses and leaned in close to examine the kitchen utensil, all the while muttering "It's not possible, one moment there's nothing, and the next it's there…" She poked it proving it was solid before continuing "It's clearly solid so it's not a hologram-"Turning to her son her eyes alight with curiosity she exclaimed "This is simply fascinating! How is it done?"

"In certain people there exists a secondary nervous system one that exists within the soul itself, these 'nerves' are called Magic Circuits and they convert and store mana the energy of the planet into od, the life energy of the body. Both energy sources are referred to as prana and quantified by units of ten, with the 'average magus' having twenty five units of prana or two hundred fifty units of od. "

The trio at the table turned to the voice that gave such a precise textbook answer, to find Rin standing in the entryway to the kitchen. The quartet locked eyes with one another for a moment before Rin bowed and said "Sorry for interrupting but I find myself in serious need for some tea. I hope you don't mind Shirou?"

Waving a hand in a 'help yourself' gesture Shirou replied "Of course not Tohsaka."

Rin narrowed her eyes at him a moment before she just sighed and said "I'm tired of hearing Tohsaka this and Tohsaka that, just call me Rin, Shirou." She told him before sitting down next to him and after pouring herself a cup of tea with copious amounts of milk and giving the other two women particularly Agatha a respectful nod before saying "I do believe you were explaining to them about magecraft before I interrupted?"

"R-Right; well using prana we can bend and in a few people's cases outright break natural scientific laws. For example that knife" he said pointing to it. "That same knife that can be created through time and effort by a normal person I can create in seconds using magecraft. In layman's terms Magecraft is the ability to reproduce what can be scientifically realized regardless of time and funds through magic."

"Exactly." Rin said with a nod "From what I've seen of your son miss Heterodyne, he specializes in Projection, and Mystic Code creation or the manufacture of magical items."

"Umm actually Tohsaka I only know Projection, Alteration, and Reinforcement." Shirou admitted.

Rubbing her brow in frustration Rin replied "Why'd you tell me that? Our alliance could end anytime you know?"

"Alliance?" Zeetha asked curious.

Giving him a hard look Rin said "You didn't tell them yet?"

Holding his hands up defensively Shirou said "I was getting to it."

Huffing Rin looked both Agatha and Zeetha in the eye and stated bluntly "Shirou and eye are currently involved in a ritual in which heroes from legends in the past are resurrected and fight alongside us as familiars, last group standing gets the prize, which just so happens to be any wish they want. Shirou and I have currently teamed up due to the fact that our enemies are much stronger than us and we have a better chance of survival together than alone."

Agatha and Zeetha glanced at one another briefly before Zeetha said "Basically just another day back home then?"

"Sure seems that way." Agatha replied with a nod before turning to her son and asking "What do you have set up in the way of defenses son?"

"I had Caster set up an array of bounded fields that more or less acts like a force field against foreign spiritual entities. Should they try to force their way into my house without permission, they shall be broken down into mana and dispersed back into the atmosphere only to reform elsewhere." He replied.

Nodding, Agatha asked "That sounds like it will do for defense, but what about offense? I realize your…Servants are supposed to do the fighting, but what do you have to defend yourself should you need to? Do you have deathrays, plasma guns, or an army of clanks?"

Rubbing the back of his head nervously Shirou replied "Eh, no nothing like that; to be honest, I just found out about this war a few days ago and have been winging it since then."

Seeing his mother about to open her mouth likely to violently protest his lack of preparation, Shirou quickly added "But my neighbor was collecting some things for me that should be waiting for me just next door at his house. We can go check it out right now if you like?"

Snapping her mouth shut with her eyes narrowed, Agatha promptly nodded before she stood up and threw on the white coat her son brought for her and said "That sounds _lovely_. Let's go do that **_right now_** shall we?" Everyone else knew by the way she spoke that it was not a question and hastened to move.

* * *

The Fujimura Estate was right across the street from the Emiya Estate so the walk was short. Agatha was stopped at the door by two burly guards in black suits, one of which said "Hold on one minute there Gaijin, just where you think you're going?"

"She's with me you two." Shirou said catching up to his mother whose eyes were narrowed dangerously behind her glasses.

One of the guards gave him a look saying "With you Emiya? I thought you were with that redhead? I mean, it's obvious you're into older women but a foreigner?"

**"****Let. Me. Go. NOW!"** Agatha demanded her voice taking on a deep commanding tone that the thug immediately obeyed.

Smoothing out her barrowed clothes, Agatha fixed the man with a glare that could freeze fire before she said **"Firstly, you rude little thing; yes I am with Shirou. Secondly I am his mother his biological mother you mangy, flee-ridden mutt and FINALLY, if you don't get me in front of one…one-"**she then realized she didn't actually know the name of Shirou's neighbor.

"Raiga Fujimura." Shirou offered from behind her.

"Thank you-"She said before turning back to the now scared shitless guard and continuing **"If you don't get me in front of one Raiga Fujimura in the next FIVE SECONDS I am going to show you why the name Heterodyne is one that, until recently was feared all across Europe!"**

That won't be necessary Miss Heterodyne." A gruff voice replied.

Everyone's attention turned slightly to Raiga Fujimura who was now standing at the entrance to his home, cane in hand, and tiger pelt draped across his shoulders. His impish features were narrowed taking in the woman's appearance for a moment before, without warning, he struck out with his cane and struck the offending guard in the back of the knee forcing him to the ground before he said coldly to the man "Yamaki, next time I hear you insult someone like that, you'll be paying with your little finger do you hear me? Or worse I'll let her make good on her threat."

"Yes Fujimura-sama." The guard hissed out.

Raiga was silent for a moment before he nodded once before turning towards the others and saying "Taiga has kept me informed of the goings on Emiya. So introductions are only needed on my part. Raiga Fujimura godfather of the Fujimura Group at your service ladies." He said bowing politely at the waist.

Seemingly picking up that bowing was the norm, the two did the same and Agatha replied "Thank you for having us Mr. Fujimura."

Nodding Raiga replied "Think nothing of it, after all it's not every day a boy finds his long lost mother, eh?" he said with a slight smirk before turning and leading the way into the compound all the while saying "But you're here to see what your son is going to defend himself with. This way please."

Raiga led the group around the house to the back yard where a long table and something else covered in white cloth. But it was something else that made Shirou stop in surprise before he smiled. For standing next to Aoko signing some official looking documents, wearing a light brown, and white fleece covered coat was Akiha Tono, with her two maids Kohaku and Hisui not too far off chatting amicably with the others and two people a bespectacled boy around his age and a simply dressed blonde woman Shirou didn't recognize.

'Wow if only-'Shirou's eyes were suddenly covered from behind and a stoic voice with hints of mirth asked "Guess who, little Shirou?"

Deciding to play along Shirou said "Is it my favorite curry loving priestess, Ceil?"

"Close, but no cigar." She taunted.

Pretending to think for a moment he whispered "I give up Elesia, who is it?"

He was suddenly and forcefully turned around and was met face to face with a blue-black haired girl wearing glasses that accented her icy blue eyes that were staring at him curiously as she asked "Aren't I the only curry loving priestess you know Shirou-kun?" Ceil asked playfully.

"That's true." He replied before he asked "How have you been?"

Shirou suddenly found himself hugged by the Burial Agency member who whispered from her spot of her head buried in his chest "Better now that you're here."

Frowning slightly in concern Shirou asked "Ciel, is something wrong?"

He never got an answer; as someone else he hadn't seen in a while called him over. "Shirou-san, you can catch up with Ciel later, for now come over here. There's someone I want you to meet." Akiha called.

Reluctantly he let Ciel go and jogged over to Akiha who was standing next to the bespectacled young man from earlier. Once he was close enough, Akiha drew him into a hug before holding him at arm's length and saying "Let me get a good look at you."

She gave him a once over before frowning slightly as if at something only she could see before saying concernedly "You haven't been sleeping well lately have you? Have you been staying up all night fiddling with junk _again _Shirou?" Ahkiha asked with her blue eyes narrowed, glaring into his golden brown hazel ones.

"No, I'm not I-your messing with me aren't you Akiha-san?" Shirou deadpanned upon seeing her giggle.

"Of course, I know why I'm here, I'm here to keep you out of trouble." Akiha suddenly rest her hand on the young man's shoulder and said "Speaking of, Shirou, this is my younger brother Shiki, Shiki this is Shirou. I do believe I've mentioned him a time or two?"

"More like all the time." The boy muttered only to receive a nudge in the ribs from his elder sister, causing him to chuckle through the pain. Rubbing his side with one hand he bowed and said "Sis really does talk about you a lot, and from what she told me, you told off the old man the day you two met, which makes you ok in my book."

"Ah, yeah I did. He was doing something I took offense to at the time." Shirou said his face souring in remembrance, his eyes flashing briefly towards Hisui, who smiled back at him serenely.

Seeing his sour expression Shiki quickly apologized saying "Sorry, didn't mean to bring up bad memories."

Shaking away looming thoughts of days past Shirou replied "Don't worry about it, who's that?" he asked pointing to the blonde woman who was still talking with the others.

"Oh right, let me introduce you. Arc, can you come over here a minute?"

Upon hearing his call 'Arc's' head shot up and she smiled saying "I'll be right over Shiki."

Shirou didn't know why, but something about this woman set him on edge. So, even though he knew it was a bad idea, he activated his 'special eyes' and took a good long look at her.

He was surprised and yet not at what he found out. This woman before him was not a woman at all but a Vampire, no more than that, she was a True Ancestor, the Last True Ancestor. One who was the highest variation of a fairy, an incarnated nature spirit that was planet level in the scope of its power. It was like the planet itself was given human form…

For just a moment, Arcueid and he locked eyes and in moment that was that brief eternity, a look of utter surprise crossed the True Ancestors face and she tripped over her own two feet stumbling slightly only to be caught by Shiki who said "You can't even walk without me holding your hand, can you, you silly vampire?"

Pouting slightly Arcueid replied "Your mean Shiki, I was just in a rush to meet your new friend here is all."

Chuckling Shiki gently reprimanded "Life isn't a race Arc."

"Isn't it?" she asked raising an eyebrow in response before standing on her own two feet and saying "Hello, I'm Arcueid Shiki's girlfriend, and you are?"

Shirou was silent for a moment as if evaluating her before saying semi-stiffly "Shirou Emiya Heterodyne, I'm a close friend of his sister. Nice to meet you."

Shirou then turned to Aoko and asked "So, what was that about earlier?"

Smiling Aoko replied "Well like I told you earlier, we're not as close as I would like. A decent portion of that problem stems from me having to manage my family's ancestral lands. Well, I've decided that in order to remain closer to you; I'm leasing my land out to Akiha. She'll manage them for me and in return, she receives twenty-five percent of the annual pay that I get from the people of Misaki every year."

Shirou blinked rapidly trying to figure out what this meant in his head. Failing he asked "So what does this mean?"

Giving something between an exasperated sigh and a laugh Aoko said "This means, I can move in with you…if want, I mean if you don't mind that is-what I mean to say is when the war is over, I'd like to move in with you, if you'd have me." She finished in a huff.

Shirou was silent for a long moment, long enough that Aoko thought he was best thinking how to tell her no. Finally he replied "I'd like that; but first, I actually need to survive the War, and to do that, I need to see what Akiha-san brought me."

"In truth; I didn't need to bring much, just the car. The rest was already in Raiga-tohen's possession." Akiha commented offhandedly.

Shirou stopped upon Akiha calling Raiga a 'distant relative'. He knew Ahkiha had Oni blood, and he had just recently been told that the Fujimura were Oni as well, but he had no idea the two were related.

Shaking off the surprise he stood back in anticipation as both Hisui and Kohaku took a handful of the white sheet and, upon Ahkiha giving a shrill whistle, pulled it aside revealing what lay underneath.

It was a car; but not just any car. It was a 1966 Chrysler Imperial Crown. Black as midnight, limousine-like in construction with a bulging box grill situated next to twin double headlights, sporting a hardtop, and racing wheels, For all intents and purposes' it was an ordinary car, but looks could be deceiving…

"Specs?" Shirou asked.

"It has a Hemi V8 engine, bulletproof frame and glass, both of which are enhanced with runes to both increase durability and reduce wind resistance to zero, there is an NO2/prana mixture in the trunk for reaching speeds of access of 2,500kph (1553mph), friction resistant tires which can proceed at 161kph (100mph) for an hour after being punctured before needing to be replaced, the interior of the car is done in red leather that can withstand several thousand G's of force once the doors are shut and locked, and it comes with heated seats equipped with a three point harness, and I-pod dock."

Whistling appreciatively Shirou turned to Akiha and said "You know I could've done the enchanting myself with Alice-nee's help or had Caster do it, right? Not that I'm not grateful-"he said quickly upon seeing her glare and clarifying "I just didn't want you to go through all the trouble."

Suddenly brightening the Tono heiress replied "It's no trouble, no trouble at all Shirou."

Nodding Shirou turned towards the other larger covered object and pulled the sheet off, revealing it to be a table covered in all kinds of weapons. From machine guns to assault rifles, several pounds of C4, and even a couple LAW rocket launchers and miniguns. They were all splay out on the table. One particular item caught Shirou's eye as it didn't look like it belonged amongst the rest of the firearms present.

It was a sport pistol, specifically a Thompson Contender its handle made out of carved walnut and the only parts Shirou could see were the trigger and the hammer as it lay in an open red velvet lined rosewood case along with the outline of sixty-six .30-06 bullets, only seventeen remained. Shirou knew a bit about guns due to constantly going with Raiga-san on his hunting trips, so he knew that this particular firearm was a single shot, break action weapon. Shirou was tempted to once again turn on his eyes to see what they could tell him about this weapon, but decided against it, fearing he may well pass out a second time today.

So instead; he opened the chamber and placed a bullet inside before flicking it shut with a flip of his wrist. Taking the holster that was laying nearby, Shirou strapped the gun to his belt, placing a few extra bullets in his pants pockets for later.

"You picked a reliable weapon there Emiya."

Shirou's head shot up to find Raiga staring at him knowingly. Glancing at the weapon on his hip for a moment the old Oni continued "Yes, that particular weapon belonged to a man that was very good at what he did, and what he did…well let's just say it wasn't very nice. Treat that gun right and it will serve you well though, I can promise you that." He said cryptically.

"Right, thanks." Shirou said in confusion before turning to his mother and saying "About that offense?"

Agatha, who was looking over the various weapons glanced up briefly before saying "It's a start."

Shirou nodded accepting that answer "What if I told you I want all of that-"he pointed to the various large weaponry- "integrated discreetly into the car and I need a bit of help?"

An insane grin crossed Agatha's face, and she held out her hand before she said "I'd say pass me a wrench."

* * *

**Chapter Length: 13,600 – Date Completed: 12/23/14**

* * *

**AN: It. IS. DONE! 13 going on 14k words ladies and gents! And done just in time for the holidays to boot! Speaking of, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and Happy Holidays to everyone else. Suffice to say this will be the only chapter I post this month, but that said yeah shit is gonna get real, hectic soon, this chapter was just set up for all of that. Now onto Character Stats but…before that I thought I would show you all something. Using the power of Math ("Unlimited pawah!") I was able to calculate the Physical Attributes of all the Servant Classes and I thought you might like to know about them so here they are:**

**An average a person can deadlift 235lbs. Taking that into account this is what I've found...**

An A-ranked Servant can deadlift 11,750lbs or 5.875 tons.  
A B-ranked Servant can deadlift 9,400lbs or 4.7 tons  
A C-rank Servant can deadlift 7,050lbs or 3.525 tons  
A D-rank: 4,700lbs Servant can deadlift or 2.35 tons  
A E-rank Servant can deadlift 2,350lbs or 1.175 tons

Next up, I'm gonna be calculating their speeds. Ok the top human recorded speed is 27mph at a sprint which means...

A-rank: 1350mph (50mph off from Mach 2)  
B-rank: 1080mph  
C-rank: 800mph (Also breaks the sound barrier at 700mph so Mach 1)  
D-rank: 540mph  
E-rank: 270mph

**Now, for endurance it's a tad trickier but I think I found a viable solution. Using the human skull as a base which needs 36lbs per square inch to shatter a human skull, and a human skull on average has a circumference of 21-23 inches. So my formula is this 36lbsx22inxN, where N is the endurance ranking. This signifies how much force is required per inch to break said Servants skull open.**

A: 39,600lbs per sq. in.  
B: 31,680lbs per sq. in.  
C: 23,760lbs per sq. in.  
D: 15,840lbs per sq. in.  
E: 7,920lbs per sq. in.

**Hope you all found that as interesting as I did when I figured that out, now onto the Class sheet for this chap:**

**Servant: Caster**

**Name: Tamamo-no-mea Alignment: Chaotic Neutral**

**Parameters:**

**Strength: D Mana: EX**

**End: D Luck: C **

**Agility: A NP: C-EX**

**Servant Skill:**

**Territory Creation: C**

**Personal Skills:**

**Witchcraft- EX: Magic that, while she is proficient in it she hates using because of her past.**

**Shapeshift- A: A skill that allows Caster to assume various forms.**

**Summon: (Kitsune)-B: Trading in item construction for summoning Allowed Caster to summon kitsune spirits.**

**Sun blessed moon cursed: This skill allows Caster to rapidly regenerate her mana reserves several times faster than normal during the day, however at night all her spells cost twice as much prana to cast.**

**NPs:**

**[?]**

**Eightfold mirror of Amaterasu: D-rank Anti-unit (Self): The Eightfold Mirror allows Caster to cast spells without consuming her or her Master's prana for a time.**

**[?]**

**There that should do it, till next chap sometime in the New Year, Bubbajack out everyone! Peace!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller/Grammarly**

**Disclaimer: I do not own F/SN or Girl Genius**

* * *

_"__To give pleasure to a single heart by a single kind act is better than a thousand head-bowings in prayer." "- Saadi_

* * *

**Ch.6: Maidens and voyages through memory.**

With his mother's help, Shirou managed to get all the armaments built into the Imperial Crown in just under two hours. The magus couldn't help but be impressed by the speed at which his mother worked, switching from building hidden racks for guns to molding false tailpipes to fit missiles. Shirou by contrast only worked at about half her pace. He wondered about it for a moment but chalked it up to her experience in building and mechanics. So he merely did the best he could, using Alteration magecraft to mold the weapons to parts of the car as needed.

While Agatha worked, she kept an eye on her son. She noted that though he worked at a slower pace than most Sparks, the craftsmanship of his work rivaled if not outright surpassed that of the greatest Clank creators she had ever come across. Which included that of Van Rijn? The most celebrated Spark of his age and crafter of the Nine Muses of the Stormking. She suspected that while her son may not invent as much as a regualar Spark, what he would create would become legendary, much like the Muses themselves. Agatha was practically giddy with excitement to see what her son will come up with once he had the proper materials at hand.

_'__Speaking of, I should have Shirou send some of his Servants to the dump to scrounge up some necessary bits and bobbles. Scrap metal, wires, a few of those flat screen tv's could produce some useful components once we take a look inside. He could probably find some useful things in them.' __r_

Agatha was pulled from her thoughts when Shirou said "That does it for this side mom, how are you doing over there? Need a hand?" he offered from the other side of the car.

Smiling at her son's helpful nature, Agatha replied "No thank you, sweetheart. I'm all finished up over here."

Giving a non-committal grunt, Shirou stood back and admired their handiwork. The car looked exactly like it did before. Which was the magus's intention but he was now almost sure that the "Black Beauty" as he dubbed her, was a veritable tank on four wheels and several times as fast. The limo-like car was fast enough to outrun all but the fastest Servants.

_'__Good thing too, because I have a feeling that even though its hull is rune-enhanced, one good strike from a Servant would likely turn the Beauty into a flaming tomb.'_ Shirou thought wryly.

The car actually did live up to its name though it was sleek and black and now packing enough firepower to take on a second world country. The Third-rate magus couldn't wait to take it for a test drive. Never mind the fact that he didn't have a driver's license or was even allowed to own a vehicle due to still being in school.

Possibly sensing his enthusiasm Shiki threw Shirou the keys. This prompted the red head to turn to his mother and say "Let's roll Kato."

"Sure, but…who's Kato?" She asked in a confused tone.

"Right, nevermind. Ready to roll?" Shirou apologized.

The blonde bombshell nodded before sliding into the passenger seat. A sense of exhilaration filled her as her son opened up the driver's side door and plopped himself into the driver's seat. He stopped just before putting the key in the ignition and said, "Seat belts."

Nodding, the two clicked in their three-point harnesses. Then with a held breath Shirou put the key in the ignition and turned…

And the Black Beauty roared to life beneath them. Growling like a saber and seemingly eager to go. Agatha couldn't help but think of the Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers. Mechanical cat-like clanks that roamed the halls of Castle Heterodyne and acted as an automated interior defense against invaders.

The tires gouged into the soft earth for a moment, trying to gain traction. Once it did, they shot forward, and Shirou was forced to use the emergency break and drift to the side in order to not impact with the wall of the Fujimura Estates outer wall. He did so again to get out into the street and continued to drive well above the legal speed limit with an insane grin on his face and a mad gleam in his eyes.

Agatha remained silent, knowing her son was in the Madness Place at the moment. She did however decide to ask a question. "Shirou, out of all those people, which one is your prime minion?"

"My what?" he asked in complete and utter confusion.

"tI keep forgetting you've forgotten everything I've ever taught you," Agatha said. Releasing a regretful sigh, she continued, "A Prime Minion is more or less the person you trust above all others. Someone you know will follow your orders. Not exactly a husband or a wife, but close. It's like a friend, you would trust with crucial tasks, knowing they would get done just by asking."

Drifting around a corner at around sixty mph, Shirou tapped his chin for a moment in thought. _'Hmm, Prime Minion, huh? Well, the closest person, I can think of, is...'_

"I guess if I had to choose someone it would be Aoko-chan." He replied, hoping his mother wouldn't notice the slight blush on his face as the memories of earlier this morning with Aoko in the bathroom came back to him.

He was lucky that his mother remembered how it felt to be teased about her relationships as a teenager. Otherwise, she might well have asked him about that blush. Instead, she asked something else she had been wondering about the engaged couple. She inquired, "How exactly did you come to be engaged to a woman nearly twice your age-" Seeing how that sounded she quickly added "Not that I'm judging or anything! You two seem happy together, and I rather like her from what little I've seen of her so far…"

Agatha paused taking a breath and calming down before she looked up and said, "Sorry I'm curi-Shirou look out!"

* * *

Illya had decided she'd waited long enough. She'd spent the first few days in this backward country recovering from jetlag and using her vast skills in alchemy to create simple familiars out of strands of her hair for observational purposes. She was curious about the other masters but even more so about the boy Kiritsugu left her behind for. It quickly became apparent to the young homunculus that this boy, this Shirou, had next to no talent when it came to Thaumaturgy. Though he apparently had colossal reserves, as it was he who activated the backup system of the Greater Grail by summoning not one, but three Servants.

_'__But Grandpapa told me Kiritsugu didn't come back because he found someone better than me.' _She thought. She had been told that very thing, many, many times as the old man had harshly trained her in the Einzbern Magecraft.

Illya it should be noted, believed everything that was said to her due to both her sheltered upbringing and a childish naivete that was born from that. After all, if something wasn't true, why say it, right? So she believed her Grandpapa when he told her that Kiritsugu abandoned her for this boy that was apparently more talented than she was.

_'__But he has no talent at all. Could Grandpapa had been wrong about him, and possibly about Kiritsugu?'_ She decided to keep watching him in hopes of finding an answer to that question.

At one point, both his Lancer and Assassin left the house. Illya considered crushing him now, but after what she had observed last night she reasoned one of his Servants had offered to go register to the church on his behalf. Sending out two more of her familiars, she found she was half right. His Lancer did indeed make her way to the church. Yet, Illya could tell by the way she squared her shoulders and a smile stretched across her face before she entered the chapel, as if she expected more than just an unruly priest. _'Its almost like she plans to meet an old friend or something.'_

_'__He knows the Blue, he knows the Fifth Magician!' _That's all Illya could think for a minute. Illya noted with a frown as none other than The Fifth Magician, Aoko Aozaki herself appeared in a blur of speed using her Magic, with what she could only assume were two attendants in tow. Illya couldn't help but wonder how he and Aozaki knew one another.

This was made somewhat clear when the red-headed magician tackle-hugged him as soon as he opened the door. Frowning at the scene, the Einzbern Princess thought _'She shouldn't be hugging him like tha-I mean, HERE, she shouldn't be here! It gives him an unfair advantage.'_

Shaking away the odd feeling in her gut, Illya tried to rationalize a reason the Fifth could be here now of all times. _ 'Maybe she owes him a favor and he asked her to help him survive the Grail War?'_

_'__But she hugged him, and what does he need a Magician for, when he has a Saber, Lancer, Assassin, and a Caster?' _an adverse voice in her head replied.

Shaking away these thoughts, Illya reassured herself _'So, what if he has four Servants? They are no match for my Black Giant and Green King.'_ Illya kept telling herself that, yet she chose not to put this theory to the test, and instead decided to keep watching…

The more she watched, the more her Grandpapa's words concerning the reason Kiritsugu never returned and adopted this boy in her stead became less and less likely. This came to a head the next day, around breakfast when an explosion of unknown origin happened. Minutes later, and older woman in her mid-twenties if Illya had to guess entered the house. Five minutes later she left dragging her supposed replacement by the ear with the Fifth Magician trudging stiffly behind and his Saber following shortly after with an amused smirk on her face.

Illya's curiosity was piqued.

_'__Who was this woman to be able to drag around a Master in the presence of her Servant and the Fifth Magician? Where were they going? Did it have something to do with the explosion that happened minutes before?'_ All of these thoughts raced through Illya's head, but sadly she didn't wish to risk exposing herself to his Caster so she continued doing as she had been these past few days…and kept watching.

She was still watching when a flurry of activity began. It was as if someone had kicked the proverbial hornets nest. One moment it was calm. The next, her Onii-chan, his three remaining Servants (Assassin had stepped out for some reason or another.) and Aozaki were all rushing down the road to the nearby school. A place where four Servants were currently engaged in combat…

She watched and this time managed to hear her Onii-chan's proclaim his intention to defeat that…thing that called itself Rider, of being a Hero of Justice. He then took both his Servants, the Tohsaka girl, and three bystandards back to his house.

After the confrontation, she went through everything she had learned by spy-stalk_-'Observing, I was observing him! A Lady such as myself does not stalk.'_ Illya had reprimanded herself before she went over everything she had learned via observation, versus everything she had been told growing up.

_'__I was told Papa didn't want me because I wasn't talented enough-'_ Illya thought back to the first few hours of her observations, how her Onii-chan seemed entirely clueless about what was going on_. '-Yet, aside from seemingly having an astounding amount of prana he doesn't seem very skilled. In fact, he's so hopelessly unprepared, it's almost cute- wait, cute?' _Illya found herself thinking.

She gave that a moment of thought _'Yes, I suppose he is cute in a pathetic kitten sort of way. I mean, he tries to act tough. Bearing his claws l__ike that __and all. In reality, he's really a helpless mewling babe without someone there to hold his hand.'_ Giggling a bit at her analogy, Illya got back to the task at hand.

_'__I was told Kiritsugu adopted Onii-chan so he could twist him into his own twisted image.'_

Illya scowled _'If Grandpapa's idea of evil is a Hero of Justice, then I would hate to see what he thinks a good person should be like.'_ She had thought with a shudder before she added aloud-

"Although he does need a stern talking to about how to handle civilians. One does not keep them around and let them move in with you! It goes on more than just the secrecy of War, it threatens our very way of life, the very way we Magi operate!"

"Let's see…He protects civilians, calls himself a Hero of Justice, and seems to be very nice." Illya muttered to herself while tallying off all she had learned on her fingers.

All she had seen directly contradicted all she had been told. This led her to the only logical conclusion:

"Grandpapa **_lied_** to me," Illya said her voice like ice.

Although Illya would believe almost anything anyone told her thinking it to be the truth, should enough contradictory evidence be present to prove that a person lied…Well, Illya **_hated _**liars. She'd hated liars ever since Kiritsugu promised her he would come back for her and didn't keep his word. And if Illya hated liars, she despised people who did not keep their promises. Thus, Illya did not lie. She may not give relevant information unless explicitly asked-That she reasoned isn't lying, it's just someone not asking the right questions- Illya also kept her promises. For good or ill.

Yes, Illya kept her promises. This is why, when she said "When I win this Grail War, there will be a reckoning Grandpapa, oh yes, there will be."

In the snow-covered castle in Germany, a man, that was kept alive by magecraft and an iron will to see victory achieved…shivered.

Illya knew now was her chance! However, in the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder how people kept aligning themselves with her Onii-chan! Within just the past handful of hours, no less than eight other individuals and surrounded themselves around him. The first two were two oddly dressed women that followed a strange mechanical creature. Onii-chan and his groupies came rushing out of his shed, which Illya assumed doubled as his workshop. The scene, she observed, was tense for a bit, as the two groups attempted to establish a line of communication. Once they got past the language barrier. However, the two scantily clad woman were promptly guided into the estate her Onii-chan even took the blonde's hand and led her inside himself.

_'__Who are those two? What is their connection to Onii-chan?'_ Illya wondered. She wanted to know ever so much, but she held off. Mostly because after the group returned a limousine accompanied by a truck cab stealthily made its way up the street before pulling into his neighbors backyard indoors. The limousine passenger side door was promptly opened and two red-headed twins in maid uniforms quickly exited the car from either side and moved to the back, holding the doors open for the people within.

Stepping out with a grateful smile was a girl around Illya's actual age with long straight dark hair, pale skin, and calm blue eyes. She wore a simplistic outfit that looked like it belonged in a private school she'd heard of, yet Illya had to admit it suited her. Accompanying her from her end was a bespectacled girl with blue-black hair and equally black eyes. Although she seemed innocent enough in her black jacket, yellow sweater, green skirt and bowtie, and black stockings and brown flats. She looked like a mere student even more so than the other girl…Yet Illya had a feeling this girl was a lot like her. Much like how Illya was able to trick people into thinking she was ten, this woman tricked people into thinking she was no one special.

Then, out of the other side of the limousine stepped a younger bespectacled boy with messy hair wearing a navy blue outfit and sneakers. He held out a hand to someone else within. The offered hand was dainty accepted, and moments later a short haired blonde woman of stunning beauty stepped out of the limo. Illya got a sense of otherworldliness from this woman, otherworldliness, and power the likes of which she could only equate to her Green King.

The dark-haired girl was met out back by an elderly man with a gray flat top and impish features wearing what she considered to be a navy blue bathrobe and a tiger skin pelt across his shoulders. Upon seeing the girl, he moved forward and embraced her lightly and the girl smiled, making Illya suspect they might be related. But she wasn't positive as…well, she wasn't hugged a lot back home. Not since Mama and Papa left. She remembered the last time she'd played with her Papa, they were counting chestnuts in the snow, and he cheated. Mama was…sad. Illya remembered telling her a dream she had about being a cup filled up with seven black lumps. It wasn't until after the Fourth Grail War that Illya actually understood the significance of her mother's duress, and her inevitable fate.

Shaking away such thoughts, Illya finally saw a chance in the making when Onii-chan and the blonde woman began working frantically on a black limousine-like car. _'I bet they're going to take it for a test drive once they get it all finished. That's when I'll make my move.'_

* * *

And so Illya stood blatantly out in the middle of the road, with a subtle bounded field in place to keep ordinary people away from coming near the area. The black car came speeding down the road, and Illya assumed he'd stop any second…only he didn't.

'He isn't stopping, why isn't he stopping?' As the car continued on Illya became frozen in shock and was so surprised, she yelled out in her native tongue "Oh mein Gott, dieser Idiot wird mich überfahren!"

Illya wanted to close her eyes and brace for impact, but she was frozen in place. Fifty feet before she would have become a smear on the windshield of the car, it suddenly swerved and did a complete circular turn around her before coming to an abrupt stop.

_'__I'm…I'm alive.'_ Illya thought to herself weakly as her knees started to shake.

She suddenly found herself turned around and being looked over quite concernedly by the very person she'd come to Japan to see. He was speaking rapidly in his native tongue all the while patting her down, likely looking for any injuries.

Illya put up with this for a moment as she was in shock, after that moment past, however, she remembered _'Oh yeah, I'm supposed to hate him.'_

She promptly pushed his hands off of her and she was so flustered she once again spoke in her native tongue. All the while, accentuating her speech with mittened slaps to his face "Du Idiot, Sie rannte fast über mich mit dem Ding! Waren Sie auch gerade die Straße während der Fahrt wurden? Nein wirklich, Was für ein Magus selbst treibt ein Auto zu beginnen? Ich bin gekommen, den ganzen Weg mit dir über Papa zu sprechen, und Sie fast rannte mich auf der Straße! Nun, was haben Sie dazu zu sagen großer Bruder?"

Her barrage of harmless slaps finally caused him to speak in English "Oi, Oi, what are you trying to say Ojou-chan, I can't understand you! Please calm down and stop hitting me will you?" he pleaded with her futilely.

Agatha promptly cleared her throat and said "I believe I can translate for you son. She said and I quote: You idiot, you almost ran me over with that thing! Were you even watching the road while you were driving? No, actually, What kind of magus even drives a car to begin with? I came all this way to talk to you about Papa, and you nearly ran me down in the street! Well, what do you have to say for yourself big brother?"

"Magus? Papa? B-Big Brother?!" Shirou said as his eyes and voice became wider and higher pitched with each thing he said.

Illya ignored her Onii-chan for the moment and turned to the blonde woman and asked in German, "You speak German, yet you have Asian features. Who are you and what is your relation to my Onii-chan?" she asked whileu nodding towards Shirou. Shirou, for his part, had gone silent and was looking back and forth between the two women, though he did perk up a little when she said 'Big Brother' in Japanese.

Fixing her glasses, Agatha eyed the girl in front of her for a moment, sizing her up. _'She is not all that she appears. Her skin is too pale, her eyes are crimson, her hair stark white. One would almost mistake her for an albino. However, she is clearly not photosensitive, nor does she appear to have any trouble seeing so that rules out a number of things such as Photophobia,_ _Fovea Hypoplasia, Amblyopia, and Strabismus. Her eyes aren't twitching or moving in circular motions, meaning she doesn't have Nystagmus. Several of these pictorial diseases are familiar with Albinism. Besides all that though she looks like a child, her eyes are far too keen and hold far too much intelligence to belong to those of a ten years old. Thus, she must be a construct of some kind.'_

Agatha was wary, she had no idea what she was capable of. Even more so she had no accurate measure of what magecraft itself was capable of. Thus, if a construct was created with the use of magecraft in mind…

_'__Shirou and I need to get out of here, now! Hopefully, I can stall long enough for Shirou to think of a plan or for him to summon his Servants.'_

"I am Shirou's biological mother, Agatha Heterodyne. Pleased to meet you." She said with a polite bow.

_'__Onii-chan's biological mother! That's…that's not fair Onii-chan! I lost Mama and you took Papa, I think. Why should you get both my Papa and your Mama? It's not fair!'_ Illya thought bitterly to herself, before coming to a sudden realization, and smiling.

Still smiling, Illya curtized in response, lifting her purple skirt as she replied in English "I am Illyasviel von Einzbern. But you can feel free to call me Illya, Onii-chan, Gibo."

Illya's body was then covered in glowing red sigils as she intoned "By the power of this command seal, come to me, my Berserkers."

**_['Umm guys…I'm being kidnaped.']_** That was the sole telepathic message Shirou managed to get out to his Servants before all thought of doing anything fled his mind entirely. As moments later, the feeling of raw wrath filled power consumed the entire street. It was as if an invisible sea were pushing down on his shoulders, taking all his willpower not to force him to his knees. This made it extremely hard to look up at the monstrous…things when they finally did appear, but Shirou somehow managed it…

When he beheld them in all their ferocious majesty he almost wished he had collapsed instead.

They were both gigantic figures, with overly muscular physiques that bordered on the grotesque. One of them was taller than the other and was more muscular. Sporting emerald colored skin and black hair, along with a gladiator armament consisting of a fully armored right arm and a pauldron and wrist guard on his left. An iron girdle and boots covered his lower half and he had a crude gladius over his shoulder. On his brow was a metal circlet hinting at some form of royal status.

The other one by contrast had next to no armor to speak of except for a leather girdle around his waist and some leg bands around his ankles. Yet, his skin was rough and black as if it was hewed from leaden rock. His weapon if it could be called such was much like its owner, rough and seemingly hewn from solid rock in the form of a crude axe-or was it a sword?

Shirou was pulled out of his musings when two small mittened hands turned his face. Shirou found himself staring into Illya's smiling face. Staring into her crimson orbs, he found both warmth, cruelty and most of all, longing staring back at him.

She had held his gaze silently for a moment before she said in a sweet child-like whisper "Onii-chan…I've decided…I'm keeping you."

Her eyes then glowed ever so slightly and Shirou found he couldn't look away. Then, Illya spoke in her child-like tone, but it had the air of command to it, as she said, **"Sleep Onii-Chan."**

Shirou suddenly felt himself become very fatigued, with his eyes becoming heavier every second the last thing, he saw, was the green behemoth approaching the downed form of his mother…

Once she was certain he was asleep, Illya turned to her twin Berserkers and said "Alright you two, were taking them back home with us. Hulk, if you would please carry Onii-chan, Gibo-san, and me?" She then turned to her first Berserker and said "Berserker, gently get the car would you?"

The Green King stopped as he was leaning over to pick up the blonde woman who had passed out due to their mere presence and asked "Why take the car?"

In all honesty, Illya wanted to keep the vehicle on hand for several reasons. Curiosity and that fact that it would be foolish to leave such a beautiful car unattended in the middle of the street would be an obvious sign that something was amiss. But more than that, though, Illya had watched her Onii-chan work diligently on this machine for hours, carefully slotting every piece into place, and making sure it would all fit and function properly. He showed the dedication of an alchemist when it came to his Mystic Codes. That was something Illya could respect, being a part of the Einzbern Family and knowing the human body like the back of her own hand.

This is why she turned to Hulk and snapped "Because, I said so that's why! Now get a move on before his Servants realize something is wrong!"

Smirking, the Green King replied "As you say master as you say."

Shirou's Servants, Rin plus Spiderman, and Aoko arrived just in time to watch the twin Berserkers leap into the night. One carrying two hostages and the other a black vehicle over his arm, their gigantic bodies heading toward the forest on the edge of town.

The group watched them go with narrowed eyes and clenched fists. Aoko was upset enough that she punched a nearby wall shattering it into hundreds of tiny fragments. Talon and Spiderman meanwhile were giving each other an _'Oh shit'_ look.

They knew exactly who that green berserker was and they were scared, rightfully so. Lancer was able to keep track of their fleeing foes thanks to her Presence Detection skill. Had the Master of the Berserkers brought them with her, they likely would've been able to stop Shirou from being abducted in the first place as she would have known he was in danger. However, due to the fact a Command Seal was likely used, one moment the twin berserkers were waiting somewhere in the forest, and the next they were right on top of Shirou's position. By the time they arrived, it was already too late. _'Still,-'_Lancer reasoned, _'The fact that they were both taken alive and not killed on the spot indicates that Berserker's Master wants something with the two of them. Something that requires them to be able to breathe seeing as we are all still here.'_

"So, now what?" Caster asked the group at large.

She was answered by the sound of steel impacting concrete as Saber slammed her blade into the road and proclaimed "We shall lay siege to the enemy encampment and rescue our Master at once! As a knight who has sworn to protect him, I cannot allow this failure in my duty to stand." She stated fiercely.

"Umm, you might want to hold off on the daring rescue till we come up with an actual plan," Spiderman advised the blonde bladeswoman.

Turning her steely green gaze on him, she said "Oh, and why is that? Why should we not go and attempt to rescue our master at this very moment? Ah, of course. This is no concern of yours, your master is right here." Saber noted, forgetting about Rin for a moment.

Assassin leaped to the Wallcrawlers defense "That's not fair Saber and you know it! Besides, without a plan we're all as good as dead and you know it." Assassin's voice softened as she continued "Shirou will be okay. Have some faith in him."

"And Berserker's master apparently wants them alive for some reason which give us time to think of a plan," Lancer added.

Saber closed her eye and slowly nodded, taking in their council. Letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, she opened her eyes. Looking into Spidermans' mask, she said, "I apologize, I let my emotions regarding the situation get the better of me."

The red and blue clad hero waived off her apology saying "Its okay, I would've done the same if I were in your position. And for the record I'm worried about the guy and so is Rin."

This caused the girl to suddenly stiffen in surprise and for her to stutter out "S-Spider! I-It's not like that!"

Spiderman merely quipped "Oh please Rin, the guy saved your life, the life of three of your friends, and both of your Servants simply because you were in trouble. It's ok to admit you like the guy a little."

He turned, ignoring her blush and said to the others, "But for now, I think we should head back to his place and inform the others. Maybe see if we can come up with a plan of attack. Agreed?"

Everyone except Aoko, who was standing huddled by the wall she wrecked earlier, nodded in agreement and began making their way back towards the Emiya Estate. Seeing the Fifth Magician was not moving, Assassin slowly made her way over to her and said quietly "Aoko, we're all heading back to the Estate."

"I heard." She said in a faraway kind of voice.

Laura put a comforting arm on Aoko's shoulder and gave her a gentle reassuring squeeze before abruptly turning around and walking towards the Emiya Estate.

As she walked Aoko, asked out of the blue, "Did Shirou ever tell you how we came to be engaged?"

Assassin could tell Aoko seemed to have come to a decision of some kind so she promptly followed her, shaking her head and saying, "No, he never got around to it. How did you meet?"

Aoko smiled a bit in reminiscence as she said, "I remember it like it was yesterday. He was surrounded by these useless punks sent by Old Man Zelretch. After I told them off and sent them on their way, it was just me and him in a back alley…

* * *

**Flashback to Nine years ago, Misaki Town**

Aoko glared at the backs of the three hoodlums that Zelretch dumped on her. _'Why do I have to put up with these punks?'_ she thought to herself before she looked over at the kid they were heckling.

He was wearing a simple outfit consisting of a blue long sleeved t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. He had messy red hair, either hazel or golden-brown eyes, and he seemed to be staring at her curiously. Like he didn't know what to make of her.

_'__Well duh Aoko you came outta nowhere, likely saved him from a beating, and then didn't introduce yourself. Of course, he's wondering what's going on.'_ She thought to herself.

Slowly walking up to him so as not to scare him she knelt down till she was eye level with him and said kindly "Hey their little guy, what's your name?"

Instead of answering the boy slowly raised his free hand and ran it through her red tresses, seemingly entranced by them. Aoko was surprised by this act. In fact, the one thing, she hated about coming into the Fifth, was the permanent change of her hair to that most hated red color. Yet this boy seemed enthralled by it. She found the sight of him tuning out everything else and stroking her hair endearing. So much so that she said "You like my hair huh kiddo?"

Slowly the boy nodded before locking eyes with her and saying "Oujo-Chan, are you Yue Lao?"

"Hey, do I look like an old man standing in the moonlight?" She asked in false anger. Seeing the boy rapidly shake his head, she added "Then what makes you think I'm Yue Lao?"

"But your hair is that pretty bright red color just like the string that ties people's fates together. Or at least, that's what Fuji-nee told me once. Besides, Yue Lao is a Kami so I'm assuming he could take any form he wants even that of a girl with lovely hair." The boy said, smiling slightly as he stroked her hair again.

"You like my hair? You don't think it looks weird? She asked.

The young boy enthusiastically shook his head saying "It looks beautiful Oujo-chan, it…Suits you." The boy said after a moment.

She smiled then, feeling better about her change in hair color than she had since she'd ended up like this two years ago. Ruffling his hair affectionately she said "Thanks little guy, now what's your name?"

Oh, sorry! My names Emiya Shirou, what's your name Oujo-chan?" he asked politely.

_'__Emiya…The Magus Killer has a son? Wait, if he's here then that means the Magus Killer is in town somewhere…What the hell is he thinking letting a seven-year-old wander the streets alone?' _she thought, becoming annoyed at the infamous killer of magi for sending a child out unattended.

"Oujo-chan, is everything ok? You look like you swallowed a lemon." The boy said pulling her from her thoughts.

She waved her hands dismissively at him saying "It's nothing, I'm just wondering where your dad is. And I'm Aozaki Aoko, but you can all me Aoko."

A look of understanding crossed the boy's face and he promptly replied "Aoko, I like that name it suits you. As for dad, he's with Jinan-sensei getting looked over. He hasn't felt too good lately." The boy said becoming slightly down.

_'__The Magus Killer is feeling under the weather and goes to see Jinan Sougen, who is a Grandmaster of Chinese Medicine? Must be severe.'_ She thought while noticing the package the boy was holding in his other hand.

"What do you have there, Shirou-kun?" she asked.

Shirou looked down at his hand, seemingly forgetting about his errand until she pointed it out. Suddenly reminded she said hastily "Oh, I almost forgot, I was delivering medicine for Jinan-sensei to two of his patients…But I got lost on the way to the first address. Could you help me Aoko-nee?" he asked.

_'__Well, I can't just let him knowingly wander around my city, it would be irresponsible. Besides, what kind of person would I be if I said no to a seven-year-old?'_ she thought to herself.

"Sure, lemme see the address list." After she looked at the list and was surprised to see both Alice's name and home address as well as that of Makihisa Tohno, who lived in the Tono mansion across town.

"You're in luck Shirou-kun, I actually live with one of the people you're looking for, and the other person can be found quickly enough."

"Really?!" he said becoming excited and hopeful all at once, only for his stomach to let out a loud groan, reminding him he hadn't eaten in several hours.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Aoko laughed and said, "Yeah, but how about we get some lunch first, my treat?" She offered.

Shirou embarrassed merely nodded, causing Aoko to giggle again before she took his free hand and led him out of the alleyway…

Halfway up the street they were assaulted by the strong smell of various spices and garlic. Soon, the pair arrived at a busy restaurant that, according to the sign was called Messiaen. Leading the boy inside Aoko muttered to herself "I was hoping to escape the lunch rush."

The place was packed as it usually was around lunchtime and Aoko knew they would be hard pressed to get a table at this rate. She suddenly heard someone calling her name. She looked over to the far corner to see Ceil of all people waving and motioning her over. Surprised, and a bit wary at what the priestess of the Eighth Sacrament could want with her, Aoko gently tugged on Shirou's arm and approached the table.

"Ceil." She said with a guarded politeness and a subtle nod of her head.

"Aoko." She said giving me a cheerful smile and a nod before turning to the young boy I had come in with and saying, "And who is this young man Aoko, your date?" she joked.

"Haha, hilarious you cradle robber. This is, well, I'll let him introduce himself. Go on Shirou-kun." I encouraged, giving the boy a small nudge forwards towards the priestess.

"I'm Emiya Shirou, pleased to meet you Ciel-neechan." He greeted giving her a little smile.

I noticed the girls' eyes widen almost imperceptibly from behind her fake glasses upon hearing the boys' last name, but other than that, she showed no reaction.

"Nice to meet you Shirou-kun, I'm Ceil as you know. I'm…an associate of Aoko-chan here. I was just about to sit down to lunch, would you like to join me?"

In response, the boy smiled and nodded before pulling out Ciel's chair for her, causing her to giggle and say "Oh, what a little gentleman you are." She then looked to Aoko and said "This one's a keeper Aoko."

Shut up Ciel." I grumbled blushing as Shirou pulled her chair out for her as well.

Muttering her thanks, I turned to the boy and said, "Why don't you go wash up real quick before we eat Shirou?"

The boy looked at her for a moment before he nodded and headed towards the restrooms. Once I was sure we were alone, I turned to the Executor and said thoughtfully "Well, what do you think of him?"

Ceil's blue eyes hardened becoming like sapphires behind her faux glasses as she asked in a cold tone "Is he indeed the Magus Killer's son? He seems…happier than I thought one who has been raised that man would be."

I nodded "I noticed that too. He seems kind, helpful, and heroic even. That goes against everything we know of the Magus Killer. What's more, Shirou told me he's here visiting Jinan-sensei. Apparently he's feeling under the weather…" I let the sentence hang, allowing Ciel to figure out the rest for herself.

It didn't take her long, seeing as she had several centuries' worth of experience dealing with this kind of thing. Plus, in an odd twisted kind of way benefitted from it "The Magus Killer has been cursed."

"That's the conclusion I came to as well," I said with a nod before glancing towards the restrooms and asking, "What should we do about the boy?"

Ciel had thought about it for a moment before she quoted scripture "The one, who sins, is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them. Ezekiel 18:20."

I became bug-eyed at what she was implying I swiftly corrected her, saying, "Whoa, I wasn't talking about whether or not to kill the kid! I meant, should we allow him to remain under the Magus Killer's influence or not."

"Oh," The Executor replied before having the decency to become embarrassed and say, "I see. In that case, I believe it would be best if we get the opinion of other important people in town and get their thoughts on the matter don't you?"

I had given it a moment's thought before I said, "Yeah that sounds good." I then looked sharply at the priestess, smirking a bit before saying, "_We_, Ciel?"

Rolling her eyes slightly, she replied "I am merely concerned with the child's wellbeing Magician, do not think this is some kind of olive branch. Speaking of him, here he comes." Ciel finished briefly nodding behind the Aozaki head at her returning fellow red-head.

After Shirou had sat down, Ciel's eyes gleamed and she asked him "So Shirou-kun, tell me…have you ever had curry before?"

The boy shook his head, no. "No Neechan but I've never cooked curry either which is probably why." He explained.

Both Ceil and I narrowed our eyes in confusion and I asked, "Ne, Shirou-kun doesn't your dad cook for you?"

To our surprise, Shirou shook his head and replied, "No, I do all the cooking and most of the housework around the house."

_'__What the hell? The Magus Killer is keeping this boy as his personal slave?!'_ both of us thought at once.

Shirou continued "It's just as well that I do the cooking though, seeing as the Old Man can't cook to save his life, and I prefer my food to actually taste like something." Shirou shuddered in remembrance at some of the 'meals' his father had cooked.

"He's that terrible of a cook? I asked, hardly believing that the dreaded Magus Killer could be that terrible. The look of what could only be described as shell shock on a seven-year-old was all the answer I needed.

Ceil cleared her throat, getting the two's attention and nodding towards a waiter that was heading towards their table with two large pots in hand. Setting them both in the clear space in the center of the table, along with an enormous pitcher of ice water and two spare glasses for Shirou and herself, the man promptly left.

The firm smell of spices was coming from one of the pots and seafood and the scent of rice came from the other.

With an ease that only came with practice, Ceil scooped some rice on each of their plates and then topped it with scallops that were drenched in a sauce that smelled strong of cumin and other strong spices. Smiling kindly at him, Ceil said, "You're going to enjoy this Shirou-kun."

I watched as the boy picked up a glob of curry with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth. He had chewed it for a moment before he swallowed. He seemed fine for a time until his skin turned as red as his hair, that is. Yet, he calmly reached took the glass of water I offered him. After he had chugged half of it down, he let out a sigh and said "That…was very good all things considered."

Ceil smiled happily. "You liked it?"

Shirou nodded "Yeah, but I think the chef adds a tad too much chili powder. It's slightly masking the other flavors of the dish."

Ceil blinked twice. Then took a bite of the curry herself, taste testing it, before she nodded agreeing with his assessment, "Your right, there is a tad too much chili powder in here. Not enough to be totally overbearing, but it's enough to ever so slightly throw off the dish."

She looked at the boy across from her with a newfound sense of respect. Saying, "I never would've noticed this if you hadn't pointed it out Shirou-kun, you must have a very refined palate."

Figuring it couldn't be that bad if he could eat it, I took a bite…Shirou then turned to me Ionly to find that I was guzzling down the entire pitcher of water, I could feel my face burning hot, it was likely as red as my hair at the moment.

I heard Shirou turn to that crazy curry loving priestess and ask "Umm, Ciel-neechan… Just how hot is this curry?"

"Only the most burning for me Shirou-kun, only the most torrid," Ceil replied with an angelic smile. I had never wanted to strangle her more than in that moment.

**…**

After lunch, in which I had to order a slightly cooler curry, we set out for the Kuonji Mansion. The trip was rough on the little guy, he had to trudge up a winding road outside of town to the top of a hill, in the middle of December, surrounded by thick forest. Yet, despite all that he never complained the whole way there and I loved seeing the look in Shirou's eyes as we reached the top of the hill where the European mansion sat. It had three floors, its roof was slated with black tile and there were several bay windows placed throughout the household. It even had a steeple-esque attic. But what currently had the boy's attention was the fact that the house was completely surrounded by fragrant white lilies.

"Cool huh? I asked him. Seeing him nod dumbly, I added "I did this for a friend of mine that lives here so she'd have something nice to look at year around. C'mon, I'll introduce you." I said leading the way through the snow white flowers to the stained glass front door which I promptly threw open before yelling "Alice I'm back, and I brought company with me."

They found themselves in an open foyer that was brightly lit by natural sunlight cascading through the vast glass ceiling that served as its only light source. The walls were colored a pale and unfeeling white, and various oil paintings clung to the walls. The floor consisted of polished walnut wood tiles. A dark wooden staircase led to the floor above, where Alice, Soujūrou, and I each kept a room took up most of space in the foyer.

Seeing the awed look on little Shirou's face made facing Alice's wrath for bringing people into her family home and likely further complicating her life totally worth it in my opinion. Even Alice Kuonji slowly made her way down the stairs, glaring obsidian daggers at me with her dark eyes, I regretted nothing. Shirou just looked so enthralled to be here in this place that not even an angry Alice could make me regret bringing him here.

I watched silently Alice descended the last stair. She then stopped and took in the small party gathered in front of her with her usual calm seemingly uncaring gaze. I notice her eyes lingered on Shirou longer than the rest of us as if he were a puzzle she couldn't figure out. Finally, she turned to me, and upon locking eyes with her, I could tell she was demanding an answer without actually saying anything at all. I just smiled in response before I nudged Shirou, who had been silently staring at Alice this whole time forward. Whispering encouragingly, "Go on, introduce yourself and do what you came here to do."

I watched Shirou stumbled forward a step towards Alice before straightening and looking her in the eye for a moment. Alice stared back, her left eyebrow almost imperceptibly raised in curiosity at the young boy before her. Shirou bowed respectfully to the owner of the house and said upon straightening, "Hi, I'm Emiya Shirou and I was asked by Jinan-sensei to deliver your monthly medication."

He then held out a brown paper bag with her name and address on it. A small smile graced Alice's lips as she reached out and took the parcel. Once she did, she bent her knees till she was eye level with him and said "Thank you for coming all this way for both Jinan-san and myself Shirou-kun. I am Kuonji Alice, and you are welcome in my house."

The red-head only nodded and replied "It was no problem, I like to help people." The boy then frowned slightly before he added hesitantly, "Speaking of helping people are you ok, Alice-nee?"

Straightening, Alice made her way to the stairs while replying "I have nothing serious wrong with me, the medicine is just vitamins mostly."

Since she had turned her back, Alice didn't see him shake his head. But she heard him say, "That's not what I meant, I was talking about that almost lifeless look in your eyes."

This stopped Alice cold. She promptly spun on her heel and faced the boy again. This time, with a look of outright surprise on her face. "How could you possibly know about-?" she asked.

In response, Shirou smiled at her and replied, "Because, I've seen those eyes before, in a fire a year ago back home, lots of people had eyes like yours. That look that says they've resigned themselves to something, a hopeless something. And…" he then paused as if trying to make up his mind about something before he continued, "…You have eyes just like mine were that day, when I walked through those flames, leaving others to die just so I could selfishly live a little bit longer."

The silence, that followed that announcement was deafening. Two things became abundantly clear at that moment. The first was that this boy had survived some kind of natural or possibly unnatural disaster, the second was that he was wracked with survivor's guilt.

The steps, that Alice took back towards him, echoed throughout the foyer. Once she reached him, she leaned down to his level again. This time putting both of her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye as she asked, "Why do you care about what happens to me?"

He smiled slightly at her then and replied "Because, when I could walk no further through the flames, collapsing on rubble and preparing to die, the Old Man saved me."

The boy had a look that made him seem lost in his memories as he continued "He looked so happy, being able to save me. I wanted to make other people as happy as he was at that moment. I wanted to save people."

Drawing himself out of his reverie, he donned a look that seemed too severe for an eight-year-old as he said, "I'll save you Alice-nee. I'd like to see you that happy if you'd let me help."

I knew the other two couldn't see it having not been around her long enough, but I could see a change come over Alice. It was like a flicker of light had entered her typically hollow eyes as she protested, "But you have no reason to help me, you don't even know me."

Cocking his head to the side, the boy replied "Do I need a reason to help someone Alice-neechan?"

I saw Alice's eyes soften moments before she pulled the boy into a hug, one he returned. They stayed like that for a time, after which Alice broke their embrace and stood a small almost imperceptible smile on her face as she turned and said in her usual monotone "Follow me, please. It was quite a climb in cold weather and I'm sure you could all use some tea."

I remember my mouth falling open in shock as I could sense slight undertones of happiness in her voice, after that scene. Even though my mind was blank with shock, my body followed behind the two anyway. We took a hard right into the living room where two duvet couches and a thirty inch television sat on one wall, with a cherry wood coffee table in-between the two couches. Motioning for us to take a seat, Alice turned to Shirou and asked "Do you have a preference when it comes to tea?"

The boy shook his head no, and Alice nodded before leaving the room. After she'd left I, turned to him and said "What the hell did you do? I've never seen her act like that with anyone before!"

"Aoko! You shouldn't use profanity in front of a child!" Ciel sharply admonished, causing me to lower my head in shame, before she said in a softer curious tone "But I do admit, I too am curious."

Shirou, who was sitting between us, had looked back and forth at the two of us for a moment before he said "Well isn't obvious?"

"Obviously not, or we wouldn't be asking now would we?" Aoko had huffed, a little bit of her old self before she obtained the Fifth shining through. "Sorry." She apologized upon seeing his upset frown in her direction.

"It's okay." He muttered before continuing "Well it was pretty obvious to me from the moment I entered the house that Alice-neechan is hiding from the world, that she's afraid of…of letting people in, I think." He explained the best he could, using his eight-year-old intellect.

I nodded, agreeing with his assessment. Both this house and the person who owns it gave off a feeling of not wanting to be bothered by anyone or anything. The one thing Aoko couldn't figure out was, why? Why did Alice try to shut everyone out as hard as she did? At first, she thought this had to do with her being a magus, but she felt it ran deeper than that.

As if he was reading my mind he said, "I think she's afraid of something that whatever it is and the reason for it, I couldn't begin to guess."

"Instead of wondering-"Alice's cool monotone voice said from the entrance where she stood with an antique tea set, glaring at them "Why don't you just ask me?"

Both myself and Ceil had the decency to look sheepish being caught talking about Alice while she was out of the room. Shirou, however seemed to be a tad dense. As he said "What's wrong Alice-neechan what are you afraid of?"

Stepping into the room, Alice gently set the tea set down, never taking her eyes off Shirou as she took a seat on the opposite couch. Silently she poured a saucer of black tea before asking him "Sugar, cream?"

Seeing the boy shake his head, Alice put his cup down on her left, before patting the vacant space next to her on the opposite couch. Getting the hint the boy got up and promptly joined her in the other duvet. Once he was situated, she handed him his cup of tea and then served herself a cup before briefly glancing at both myself and Ceil and saying "Help yourselves."

Ceil and I glanced at each other then, knowing that we were intentionally being slighted by the Kounji witch, but also realizing it was likely because we were caught talking about her behind her back. Shirou could get away with it because he was a little kid, but I was nineteen (technically speaking) and Ceil was even older than me even though she didn't look it. We should've known better in other words.

After she and Shirou had finished their first cups she, told him a story. A story about a girl whose mother was a witch, and how her father, a wealthy western man, had fallen in love with her at first sight. He then did everything in his power to win her hand. Yet the woman did her best to dissuade the man from perusing her as she knew "One, who loved a witch, was doomed to die horribly. And any child of a witch was destined to become one themselves."

Yet, even after he found out about her connection to the supernatural and her cursed fate…He still chose to be with her, saying "We'll deal with those things as they come, I'm not afraid."

And so, they were married and he painstakingly had a western style house moved to the top of a wooded hill and they were happy for many years. Then one day, the Witch found out she was pregnant with the man's child. A year after the Child's birth, the Witch passed away in her sleep, as if her duty was fulfilled. The man was saddened by the loss of his wife, but he still had his daughter. For years, he told her fairy tales of witches and trolls, fairies, knights, and princesses being kidnaped by dragons.

Twelve years later, the Man also passed away, leaving the girl alone in the house on the hill. A house that was quickly assumed to be haunted by the residents of the nearby town. The girl cut herself off from everything and more importantly everyone else choosing to live the life of a witch alone in her mansion in the woods…

I watched as Shirou silently stared at Alice for a time after she finished her tale. Then out of the blue he said, "You're the girl from the story aren't you Alice-nee?"

Staring down into her cup of now cold tea, Alice nodded. Shirou continued "So the reason, you're afraid to let people in, is because you're scared they're going to die like your parents did."

Alice had hesitated for a moment before she shook her head, no.

Slowly with a perceptive gaze far belying his years Shirou replied "Then, is it because you do not wish to get close to anyone for fear of falling in love like your mom did?"

Seeing Alice tense he continued on "You're not afraid for you, are you? No, you're scared of leaving a child in this world all alone, and more, you don't want anyone to fall in love with you knowing they'll die if they do."

A lone tear made its way down Alice's cheek. Only for Shirou to wipe it away, before he said happily, "It'll be ok Alice-nee, I'll just have to become your son won't I?"

There was a profound silence that followed this announcement after which all three girls said, "...Eh?"

The person most confused was Alice herself. Turning to him, she said in a measured tone "What do you mean by that Shirou-kun?"

"Well, you don't want anyone dying for your sake, I can understand that, believe me. So, I figured you could treat me like your son or maybe little brother. That way you can have a family and not have to worry about anything bad happening to anyone." He replied quietly.

Alice smiled, genuinely touched by the boy's generous offer. Ruffling his hair, she replied with a hint of warmth entering her usually stoic tone, "Thank you Shirou-kun. That means more to me than you could possibly imagine but-"

"But?" Shirou asked motioning for her to continue.

"You're not a mage Shirou-kun, so I can't teach you anyth-"Alice stopped talking when I abruptly cleared my throat.

Soujūrou who just so happen to be passing by at the moment, paused upon seeing we had guests. Quickly formulating a plan, I said to the herbivore man, "Soujūrou, why don't you take Shirou-kun here and find him a book to read or something?"

Upon seeing Shirou about to protest, I said swiftly "I need to talk to Alice about boring grown-up stuff. So just go with Soujūrou until we come to get you ok?"

Reluctantly, he nodded greeting Soujūrou before the two exited the room.

After watching the two leave, Alice turned to me with a narrow eyebrow raised, silently demanding an explanation. I sighed, realizing she probably has never heard of the Magus Killer. _'And why would she?'_ I thought to myself _'She has no reason to know or fear the name of Emiya, she's no Sealing Designate. She just wants to be left alone.'_

Taking a deep breath, I explained "We think Shirou-kun is the adopted son of someone known as the Magus Killer. A freelancer who hunts down Sealing Designates and Apostles." I told her taking a breath before continuing "Considering what we learned in the foyer, we can assume he's adopted. But even if he can't be given his father's magic crest, we have no idea what he's been taught by…that man."

Alice took in all I said silently. She had remained stoic for a moment before she said "Have you thought about just asking him his father's name and if he is a magus?"

Both Ceil and I shook our heads "We didn't want to worry the kid if his dad was innocent. Or let him know what kind of person his father really is if our theory is correct." Ceil told her guest.

Alice closed her eyes and let out a nearly imperceptible sigh before she opened them again and looked at the clock. Seeing that roughly twenty minutes had passed, she stood up and said "Then let's go ask him shall we?"

We all got up and left the living room looking for the two boys. First we checked the kitchen, then Soujurrou's room, they were in neither place. We all grew confused "Where could they be? I told Soujurrou to find Shirou…something to…read." I finished in a deadpan voice.

Alice huffed upon reaching the same conclusion I had moments earlier before she led the way to the annex, where our 'magic den' was located. It was a room almost covered wall to wall with oaken bookcases where troves of magical knowledge were kept, broken up only by a white marble fireplace over which hung an oil painting of Alices mother.

Sure enough, when we marched into the room, we found both Shirou and Soujurrou sitting in the two overstuffed armchairs by the now lit fire. But they weren't reading any of the old tomes Alice kept on her shelves…or at least Soujūro wasn't.

Sitting in between the two on a stand was an antique chess set. Currently, Soujurrou was attempting to think of a plausible move to make while Shirou-kun was, in fact, reading a slim volume entitled **_"Beginning Magecraft for the Budding Magus."_**

It was blatantly obvious that Soujūrou was being decimated. He had lost half his pawns, as well as one of his knights. Shirou by contrast had only lost two pawns. It was plain that no matter what he did, he would lose on Shirou's next turn. Soujurrou had spread his forces too thin and Shirou was poised three different ways to get a checkmate his next turn.

Sighing in resignation Soujūrou said, "You win, Shirou-kun." Before he gently toppled his white king.

Shirou smiled ever so slightly before he held out a hand and said "Good game, Soujūrou-nii?"

Taking it, Soujūrou replied "Yeah."

Alice cleared her throat then, alerting the boy's to our presence. As one, they turned and Soujūrou said "Hey Aoko, I kept Shirou-kun busy like you asked. Apparently, he's really good at chess."

Shirou shook his head and said modestly "Not really, I can never win against the Old Man when we play."

Before the two could continue Alice stepped forward and said to the younger of the two "Shirou, are you a magus?"

The thought, that he was merely reading the book for fun, had crossed my mind but, Alice decided to get straight to the point. Shirou perked up at being asked that and said, "Sort of, I had to beg the Old Man to teach me, he really didn't want to. He said it was too dangerous. He only just started teaching me the basics after showing me how to make magic circuits."

Something he had said blatantly stood out and I asked worriedly "Make magic circuits? Tell me how do you make magic circuits Shirou-kun?"

The boy shrugged and said, "Same as everyone else I suppose. I convert my nerves into circuits whenever I want to do magecraft, just like everyone else…Is something wrong Aoko-chan, Alice-nee, Ceil-chan?" he asked upon seeing the shocked looks that were likely on all three of our faces.

Taking several numb steps forward, I stopped in front of him and said gravely "Shirou-kun, Magi don't make magic circuits, they are born with a set amount of them. What you've been doing was incredibly dangerous and could've crippled you for life."

I was his eyes widen in fear and he said "That's not good…"

I nodded "No, it really isn't. Now-"I stopped dead when he suddenly finished-"I can't save anyone if I'm crippled for life."

_'__What? Isn't…isn't he concerned about his own well-being at all?' _Asking him as much, I was surprised at the answer I received.

"My life doesn't matter, only the lives of the people I manage to help."

It was then I understood just how deep his survivors guilt went. To go so far as to not care about his own life, so long as another's was saved in the process…that was suicidal thinking at its best.

A chilling thought occurred to me next, and I asked him, "What about the bad guys Shirou-kun. Will you 'save' them too?"

He nodded "If I can." He replied.

Soujūrou, who had been quiet up to this time, spoke in an unusually serious tone. His usually soft kind eyes possessing a sort of firmness to them, he said, "Shirou-kun. I may not understand a lot about this magic business, but it sounds to me like you want to be a Hero. Is that about right?"

The boy nodded, enthusiastically replying, "Yeah, I want to be a hero that saves everybody!"

Soujūrou had nodded before he continued "I see. Well Shirou, if you had to choose between saving an innocent person or the person who was holding said person hostage. The gunman is holding the hostage at the edge of a building meaning potentially, both could die. Which would you choose? You can't choose to save both." He added as the boy gained a stubborn look before opening his mouth.

Looking down and frowning the boy muttered out, "Well, I'd save the hostage I guess as they are in the most danger."

Soujūrou nodded and if a person chooses to end their life in some manner, do you save them?"

"Yes!" Shirou replied vehemently.

Soujūrou paused before answering "What gives you the right to take away that person's choice to end their own life from them, are you God, Shirou-kun? Do you get to decide everyone's fate?" the older boy asked.

The smaller boy rapidly shook his head replying "I'm not God, I just…"

"Don't want to sit back and do nothing?" Soujūrou nodded, "I understand. But I do believe we've covered two potential rules of being a hero."

Seeing Shirou's confusion Soujūrou elaborated "Rule one, not everyone can be saved. Rule two, not everyone wants to be saved. Which leads us to rule three…not everyone deserves to be saved."

Seeing the boy open his mouth to argue, Soujūrou raised a hand and asked "Tell me Shirou-kun, have you been taught about World War Two yet?"

Seeing the boy shake his head, Soujūrou continued "Well, I recently learned about it myself and I found it sickening. After Germany had lost the First World War, they were made to sign a treaty called the Treaty of Versailles which basically forced them to pay back money to the countries they lost to in the war."

Soujūrou stopped to collect his thoughts before he continued "However they printed off so much money that it became worthless. Making their nation descend into a state of poverty. Then out of the food riots, inflated prices for consumer goods, economic chaos, rose The National Socialist German Workers' Party. Otherwise known as the Nazi Party. They were led by one Adolf Hitler, a natural charismatic speaker, and soldier of World War One."

Soujūrou had cleared his throat before he continued "Their agenda of this group included removal of the current government, rejection of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, radical antisemitism, among other things. But they also promised a strong central government, increased living space for Germanic peoples, and the formation of a national community. For the most part, they were politely ignored until the Black Tuesday happened in 1929 in America, leaving millions without a job or income. The Nazi party used the turmoil to rise to power by promising to restore order if elected to power. Come the time of the next election the Nazi Party controlled thirty-nine percent of the vote, Four years later Hitler was elected Chancellor just beneath the president. When the president died, he became leader and quickly turned into a dictatorship. With him and his Nazis in full control of the government."

Soujūrou paused before continuing "Within a year, he had invaded Austria and started a ten-year long conflict known as World War Two. By the time, it was over anywhere from sixty to eighty-five million people were dead. Of those eighty-five million, somewhere between thirty-eight to fifty-five million of them were civilian casualties; which include nineteen to twenty-five million from war-related disease and famine in a Nazi prison camp or worse, mustard gas chamber. The remaining thirty million or so deaths were military soldiers."

Soujūrou silently took in the sickened look on the young boy's face for a moment before he asked "Knowing all of this Shirou-kun, would you still attempt to save this man if given the chance?"

Shirou shook his head saying "No…"

Seeing he wanted to say more Soujūrou prompted him to continue "But?"

"But that war wouldn't have had to happen if the countries they were beaten by didn't want their money back so soon." The redhead protested.

Much to his surprise Soujūrou nodded and replied "That's probably correct Shirou-kun. In essence, the Allied Powers of the First World War, through their own actions created an even greater monster, costing even more lives in the process. But what have you learned from all this?"

The boy seemed to think for a moment before saying "Save people who are actually in danger, not everyone wants to be saved, and some people deserve to die?"

"Close, try protect the innocent, help only those who wish to be helped, and stop the bad guy. You don't necessarily have to kill them but yes, sometimes the world would be better off without certain people." Soujūrou replied.

I'd kept quiet when Soujūrou began his explanation but now I couldn't help but speak up, "So, you want to be a hero, someone who saves others Shirou-kun. Is that your sole reason for learning magecraft? "

Shirou just looked at me and silently nodded.

I replied "I see, Well in any case, you'll need someone to teach you how to fight. I have years of experience and can show you a thing or two if you want."

I had heard Ceil scoff beside me before she said "What you do isn't fighting, it's barbaric brawling. If anyone could teach him how to fight, it's me."

I remember getting in her face. Only to be interrupted by Soujūrou, who coughed and said pointedly, "Actually maybe I should teach Shirou-kun how to fight while the rest of you teach him about magic since I can't do that?"

I blinked once before saying "That's not a bad idea Soujūrou." I then glared at the Executor and said "That fine with you?"

"Fine by me Miss Blue." She said coolly while smirking, ticking me off.

"Miss Blue?" Shirou questioned before saying "Oh, its because of your lovely eyes isn't it?!"

I felt my face heat up, more out of embarrassment than anger as Ciel replied in an amused voice "Why yes, Aoko-chan does have beautiful eyes doesn't she Shirou-kun?"

The boy nodded "Yeah, but I like her hair the best its beautiful." He replied honestly.

By now, I'm pretty sure my face was as red as that hair he adored so much. Yet he seemed not to notice as Ciel replied in an even more amused tone "Her hair is pretty isn't it? Tell me, what else do you like about Aoko-chan?"

"Well-" he began only to be cut off by Alice, who cleared her throat, saving me from further embarrassment as she said stoically "I do believe we are getting off track. We were discussing your apprenticeship were we not Shirou?"

"We were?" he asked before brightening, becoming excited, and saying "You are?"

Alice smiled at him and nodded replying "We are, but first there is one more delivery you have to make…and I need to have a **_talk_** with your former magecraft teacher." She said in a frigid tone before she quickly walked around the room, pulling various books from the shelves.

At that moment, I felt sorry for the Magus Killer.

With her arms full of tomes, her voice regained its usual stoic tone as she said, "Let's do that now shall we?" Even though she phrased it as a question, we all knew it was a command.

And so we did.

* * *

"Aoko I hate to interrupt, but we're almost home and you still haven't explained just how you and Shirou became engaged." Laura pointed out mildly annoyed.

Looking around Aoko found the Emiya Estate was just down the street. "Was I talking the whole way here?" she asked.

Seeing Assassin nod in affirmation, Aoko rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and said "Sorry about that Assassin. I tend to get lost in my memories."

"Its fine, you've helped paint a broader picture of Shirou than I had before. But perhaps you should cut to the chase now?" she offered none to subtly.

"Right, I'll just skip to the end then…"

**Misaki City Nine Years Ago…**

Later, after dropping off the medicine at the Tohno Estate; I was sitting on a bench with Shirou outside of Sougen-sensei's, watching as Alice dragged the Magus Killer by his tie. She was leading him behind Jinan-sans hospice. Sougen himself was deep in conversation with both Ciel and Soujūrou about martial arts.

Turning to me, Shirou asked, "You think the Old Man's going to be ok?"

I ruffled his hair good-naturedly and replied "He'll be okay. He's the-"I stopped before I said Magus Killer and said "He's well known for being both stubborn and fierce."

Shirou just nodded, absentmindedly stroking his hands through my hair. Giggling, I couldn't help but comment "You really do like my hair don't you?"

"Yeah, I wish I could wake up to see it every morning." He said more to himself than anyone else.

I blushed profusely at what he had accidently implied. I glanced over at him out of the corner of my eye and found him giving me a semi-serious look.

"What is it?" I asked, wondering why he was looking at me like that.

"Ne, Aoko-chan…can I ask you a favor?" he asked quietly.

I couldn't help but wonder what it is he could want to ask me, so I silently nodded and waited for him to speak.

"Do you think that maybe, when I'm older…you could consider marrying me?" he asked.

I was surprised by him asking this of all things of me. I mean, I was nineteen and he was eight. That's a pretty significant age gap. Then I again I remembered being his age once and promising to 'marry' my best male friend at the time.

So, when I jokingly pointed out our age difference, he replied "I don't care as long as your still cute. And since your beautiful now, I bet you'll still be cute by the time I'm grown up."

"Gee, Thanks," I said dryly, something he completely missed as he said "Your welcome. So, will you marry me then?"

Deciding to humor him I nodded "Sure, why not? I mean you're cute now, so I bet you'll handsome once you're all grown up. Besides, how many girls can say they have a superhero for a husband?"

The enormous smile that lit up his face made playing along with his little game worth it. Suddenly he was right next to me, and then he plucked one of my red hairs. Tying one end of the gossamer hair around hi own left pinky he offered me the other end saying "Promise?"

Taking the other end, I tied it around my pinky finger and said "I, Aozaki Aoko promise to marry one Emiya Shirou in the future."

Smiling, he replied, "I, Emiya Shirou promise to marry one Aozaki Aoko in the future and to become the greatest hero ever."

Without warning the hair in-between, us glowed bright red and I felt my magic circuits activate and od thrum down the strand of hair into Shirou. Then, moments later I felt a slightly invasive if miniscule amount of od come from the other end of the hair into me, from the boy it was attached to.

We both had looked each other in pale-faced confusion for a moment before we both screamed as one "ALICE?!"

* * *

"Well-" Assassin prodded seeing Aoko suddenly go silent, "What did you do?"

Sighing, the Fifth Magician finished her tale, "Once she arrived, we explained what had happened. She, in no uncertain terms, told us we had accidently bound ourselves to each other through a magically binding contract. To be more precise, it is a Japanese variant of the Scottish Geas Scroll. Enacted by using the hair of a the female participant as the hair and bodily fluids of a magus are magically conductive and enriched material. Apparently it was used quite a bit several hundred years ago by Japanese magi to gain oaths from one another, which is where the myth of Yue Lou comes from."

Assassin was silent for a moment, standing shell-shocked outside the entrance to the Emiya Estate as she said "You mean, you and Shirou…are engaged… entirely due to a magical accident?"

"Pretty much yeah," Aoko had replied with a nod before she let out a sigh, waiting for the Servant to laugh at her like so many others had done before her.

Yet, she didn't do that. Instead, she gave Aoko a serious look and asked "Do you love him? I mean really love him or are you with him solely because the geas?"

Smiling Aoko replied "The Geas doesn't actually affect my emotions. But it does act as a two-way Self-Geas-Scroll. Seeing as it was a promise accepted by both of us; if either one of us were to refuse to marry the other, both of our magic circuits could be destroyed, if not killing, permanently crippling us both. So, while we are compelled to marry one another, we don't necessarily have to be in love. In fact, loveless marriages happen all the time in magi society." Aoko said calmly.

"You didn't answer my first question. Do you love him?" Assassin asked again.

Turning to her Aoko smiled and replied "I wasn't at first. For awhile I treated him like a little brother. Then after awhile, I started seeing the man he could one day become. In other words to answer your question Assassin, I'm head over heels for that idiot. Heh, I'm so far gone that I know he has a harem and I don't even care…" She then locked eyes with the Servant of the shadows and said "And do you know why?"

Seeing the Servant shake her head, the Magician replied, "Because, at the end of the day, I know Shirou loves me. I know he has a big heart. And I know that if I try and deal with his brand of the crazy alone my entire life, I'll end up nuts myself."

Smirking Laura replied dryly "Your too kind."

"Yeah well, I'm benevolent like that," Aoko said with a grin.

The were both startled by the sudden appearance of Lancer in front of them. The green-haired girl smiled at them for a moment before saying "We've decided we're going to retrieve Shirou at midnight tonight. Shiki-san has volunteered to come along, as has Ceil-san will you be joining us for a midnight stroll as well?" she asked.

The Fifth Magician and Talon looked at one another for a moment before nodding and Aoko turned to Lancer and said "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

**Chapter Length: 13,450 – Date Completed: 1/11/15**

* * *

**AN: Holy Shit, is it me or are my chapters getting longer lately? I think they are which is both good and bad in a way. Good, because you guys get longer chapters. Bad, because it takes me longer to write said chapters. **

**Anyway I'm just going to say this right now so there is no confusion: I DO NOT support Nazism at all, in any way, shape or form. Why do I feel the need to say this? Because I guarentee you at least one person is going to go 'Full Retard' after reading what I put into this chapter, somehow manage to misinterpet it and call me a Nazi or a Racist of which I am neither.**

**That said instead of putting a Servant Stat sheet up this chap I'd like to talk to you about a coupler of other things mainly that of Magic Circuit Quantity and Quality, and the Od to Prana ratio.**

**I do believe I've managed to figure out just how many Circuits, how much prana each citcuit can hold, and the total Od capacity each identified Magi possesses so long as they have a letter grade.**

**How? Touko Aozaki. She is said to have B+ rank quantity when it comes to her Circuits having 20. So half of that would natuarally be 10 knowing this, I times and divided ten by two and rounding up or down where necessary until I came up with this list for Ranks of Magic Circuit Quantity here:**

**A: 20, A+: 40, A++: 60, A+++: 80**

**B: 10, B+: 20, B++: 30, B+++: 40**

**C: 8, C+: 16, C++: 24, C+++: 32**

**D: 4, D+: 8, D++: 12, D+++: 16**

**E: 2, E+: 4, E++: 6, E+++: 8**

**So, knowing this we can sorta take a guess at some peoples total magic capacity if we assume that the units for prana are the same as the ones given on the Stats page for Servants ie: A=50 units of Prana ectra ectra.**

**But, how many units of Od is in a single unit of Prana? Well my best guess is, since the comapany that made this series is japanese, its likely using the metric system which does things by tens so 10 units of Od likely equals 1 unit of prana.**

**Knowing all of that here's what Aoko's stats likely are: 2 magic circuits each holding thirty units of Od for a total of six Prana. WELL below average for a magus…however, Aoko also has the Aozaki Magic Crest so she likely has somewhere between 6-8 magic circuits in total meaning if she uses her Crest in every fight (Unlikely considering she uses Od to fight) she would have anywhere between 180-240 units of Od, giving her a grand total of somewhere between 18-24 units of prana. Still below average (On average, a matured magus has anywhere from 25-40 units of prana.) But not by much.**

**As for the canon version of Shirou he'd have 27,000 units of Od or 270 units of prana. How do I know this? It's stated he has 27 magic Circuits each of which can only hold ten units of Prana without breaking. So Canon!Shirou has circuits of roughly B++ rank Quanity but E-rank in Quality. **

**Of course, this is all theroy on my part. You all don't need to accept it as fact. But I will say that this is the system I'll be using in my stories from here on. That said, this Authors Note has dragged on long enough but I'll just say a couple more things:**

**First: I intended to have more Illya, Shirou, and Agatha in this chap as well as a badass fight scene between Team Shirou and Team Berserker. But the Flashback kinda took on a life of its own, so I decided to write it out as its own chapter.**

**Secondly: I'll be posting the next chap 1/23/15. Till then, Bubbajack out! Peace!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Grammarly/Diller**

**Disclaimer: I do not own neither FSN, Girl Genius nor anything else that may show up in this fic.**

_"__Water is thicker than blood,"-_ Unknown.

**Ch.7: Let the Bodies Hit the Floor.**

Shirou woke up to the sound of someone quietly yet urgently calling his name. Groggily forcing his heavy eyelids open he looked around to find himself in an unfamiliar room. Looking around briefly, he noted it was a western room with oaken hardwood floors, an oil painting of what appeared to be a pale white-haired woman in priestess's garb hung over a marble fireplace. To his right was a four-poster bed and glass double doors leading to a balcony.

His head snapped to the left when he heard his mother whisper "Shirou, are you awake sweetheart?"

Looking to his left, he found his mother tied to a solid oak high-backed chair. Her hands bound with what appeared to be silk handkerchiefs'. Looking down at his hands, he found that he too was tied up in the same fashion before he replied "I'm awake mom. How long was I out for?"

"I woke up about five minutes ago myself so I wouldn't know. I can't manage to get my bindings off, so I thought that if I woke you up, you might be able to magic us out of here."

Shirou mentally chuckled at his mother's use of terminology for a moment before he said "I think we're in Illya's residence, which means she probably has an incredibly strong bounded field around the place. She likely already knows we're awake and would know the moment we tried to make an escape. Think of it as an invisible security system that telepathically lets the owner know when someone enters their land. Then it keeps track of them."

He saw his mother's jaw had dropped when he explained about this thing called a bounded field that they were likely inside. 'So she probably knows everything that happens within the confines of her territory. Question is, why did she kidnap us in the first place?'

Asking her son this very question he merely shrugged in reply before saying "The last thing she had said before I passed out was that she decided she was 'keeping me.' So I guess that means she wants us alive for some reason."

Shirou then tugged at the silken bonds, finding they were indeed expertly knotted, he did the next best thing he could think of "Trace On."

He flooded the restraints on his wrists with prana until they broke, allowing him to bend down and untie his legs before freeing his mother. After rubbing her wrists to get the circulation flowing again, she turned to her long lost son and asked, "Ok, what do we do now? I know next to nothing about magic so I'll follow your lead on how we should go about escaping. What do you propose we do?"

Shirou didn't answer at first, instead walking over to a small bookcase on the other side of the room that he couldn't see before and looking at the various titles it contained. One in particular caught his eye and he pulled it off the shelf before sitting on the bed and saying, "I think we should wait."

Agatha blinked behind her glasses before saying incredulously "Wait, you do realize we're being held prisoner correct?"

The red-headed Magus had nodded completely at ease before he replied "I do, but we have no clue how far Illya-san's boundary field extends. For all we know, it could go for on for miles from this location, and I doubt we'd be able to outrun her Servants for very long. But that's not what bothers me most."

Agatha became concerned upon hearing that. If being imprisoned in a castle surrounded by a magical barrier, and being guarded by two godlike entities wasn't his greatest concern what was?

After asking him just that, he replied "From what I understand of the Grail War, the easiest way, to defeat a Servant, is to kill the master. As the Master is the one, who anchors the spirit to the present. Without one, a Servant will fade away, crushed by Gaia, the will of the planet itself."

"Wait, the planet is sentient?! No, this can wait, finish with your explanation, please." Agatha finished stopping herself and reigning in her curiosity for a moment.

"Right well, like I was saying, kill the Master, get rid of the Servant. She had us or more specifically me dead to rights. I had no Servant or way to fight back against either one of her Berserkers. But, instead of killing both of us, she kidnaped us, why?" he asked.

Agatha tapped her chin in contemplation briefly before pondering aloud "Perhaps she wishes to use you as bait to lead the others into a trap? Also, you should know that little girl is nowhere near as young as she pretends to be. Be careful with her son." The blonde Spark warned her son.

Seeing him nod she continued, "Now what's this about the planet being sentient?"

"Yes, the world is 'alive' in a sense. All those legends about various magical creatures you might have heard about growing up? They are the 'senses of the planet' if you will. It wants to keep on living so occasionally natural disasters happen thinning out humanity in an area. That or a vampire shows up and goes on a killing spree…"

"Wait vampires? What does- you know what, this can wait till after you explain what the real danger is here." Agatha replied rubbing her temples as if she was beginning to get a headache.

Shirou scratched him head thinking _'Was I this inquisitive when Aoko and the others were teaching me about magecraft? If so, I owe them an apology the next time I see them.'_

He did his best to explain "They're like custodians in a sense. They cull humanity so the planet can keep on living. As, if you think about it, humankind as a whole could be considered a parasitic organism feeding off of, and slowly killing a much larger body. The planet itself."

"So vampires, and other supernatural things humans fear are like antibodies trying to stop the spread of an infection." Agatha mused. That to her made more sense. After all, if something were sick its immune system would naturally try to fight off the disease, lest the infection spread and become rampant.

_'__Only, humanity is the disease.'_ She thought morbidly.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Shirou said "That's right. Now, I have some questions of my own if you don't mind?"

Nervously twisting the hem of her borrowed skirt, Agatha fixed her cog-shaped glasses before she nodded in response. _'I should've known he'd want answers eventually.'_ She mused silently to herself.

"How exactly did I end up here?" Shirou asked after a moment of thought.

Agatha mentally sighed in relief glad he wasn't asking about the locket, yet anyway. And this was a question she was all too happy to answer.

Distain entering her voice, Agatha replied "That would be thanks to your father son. He was trying to devise a way for trans-dimensional plane transversal which involved the molecular destabilization of a given target and transference of said particles to another plane of existence. He did this by using an atomic destabilizing raygun combined with a series of broadcasting microchips implanted into the test targets. "

A pained look crossed the blonde sparks face for a moment before she continued, "During one such test, you were shot with the laser. As you were not tagged with a microchip, we had no way of tracking you. Y-You were only s-seven-years-old at the time o-of 'The Incident'." Agatha choked out, all her pent up sadness, anger, and desperation in searching for her son for the past decade resurfacing as she spoke.

Shirou did the only thing he could think to do. He gently pulled her into a hug and held her as she cried. She latched onto him like a drowning man being thrown a life preserver, clutching him tightly as if to make sure he was real and not another highly vivid dream.

As if sensing her reasoning he said calmly "I'm here Mom, I'm here and I don't plan on going anywhere."

"You'd better not, I spent a decade looking for you and just got you back. If it weren't for that damn locket I, would've found you sooner." Agatha choked out through her tears.

"Speaking of the locket, I have some questions concerning it too," Shirou said even as he ran his hands soothingly through his mother's golden mane.

He felt her stiffen in his arms briefly, only to take a deep breath and let it out, before whispering "Promise you'll let me finishing speaking before you judge me?"

Shirou was confused about why she would ask this, but nodded adding, "I promise."

She pushed off him then, sitting up and looking down at her lap as she spoke "We Sparks, we're chaotic by nature. We can build wondrous and often times destructive machines. The first time a Spark does this, its is called Breaking Through to the Madness Place. A state of being where the Spark gets' ideas, becomes more aggressive. We can also move faster thanks to a form of hyper focus. However, when a spark enters the madness place for the first time, their invention usually ends up being incredibly destructive. More often than not killing them in the process."

"Most Sparks don't breakthrough to the Madness Place till they enter their late teens only three instances have been recorded of a Spark beginning to Breaking Through when they were still in their single digits…Myself at four-years-old, my mortal enemy, Gilgamesh von Wulfenbach at five-years-old…"

She then looked at Shirou and finished "And you, when you were merely three."

Seeing her boy's eyes widen in shock, she continued "My Uncle Barry, when he saw me beginning to Break Through, he put a locket on me just like yours. It suppressed my Spark to the point of non-existence, gave me constant migraines when I concentrated too hard and caused all my inventions to fail."

"I found out later why he did it, do you know what that reason was?" Seeing Shirou shake his head, she replied "If one Breaks Through too young, they go irreparably insane, becoming little less than bestial monsters due to still being in their developmental stages."

Tears threatened to fall from Agatha's eyes again as she said rapidly "I never wanted you to go through what I did, thinking you were stupid and incapable, please believe me! Once you were thirteen or so, I would've taken the locket off and you would've been allowed to Break Through naturally, I swear! But then, the Incident happened and I couldn't. I'm-I'm so sorry son, I have no doubt life must've been difficult for you, but I just wanted to keep you safe. I hope you understand that."

Shirou was silent for a long moment, processing everything she'd told him. _'She wanted to protect me. She was just trying to be a good mother, doing her best to protect her child. I…I can't be angry at her for doing what every parent should, right?'_

Reaching out he gently ruffled his mother's hair, saying "I don't blame you, Mom. You did what you had to protect me, you probably saw no other option and did what you could to keep me safe. So thank you Mom, thank you for protecting me, even when you weren't there."

Agatha couldn't believe it. He son had forgiven her for putting a lock on his capabilities. 'No, more than that, he's thanking me for protecting him…like a mother should.'

Agatha couldn't help but let out a morbid chuckle. For the longest time, she'd often lay awake at night and wondered if she were as bad as he own mother in a way, doing this to her child. But now she knew for certain _'I'm better than you Lucretia, I'm a better mother than you.'_ She thought to herself.

She then smiled at her son with tears in her eyes and said "Thank you, son. You have no idea how much it means to me to hear you say that. What's that there?" She asked seeing the book he'd pick up off the shelf earlier.

"Oh this?" he said holding the book up "It's a beginner's book on Alchemy. I've always wondered where the line was drawn between Alchemy, which is the conversion of matter from one state to another, to Alteration, which is what I use."

"Well, by the name I'm assuming Alteration alters the form of an object?" Agatha asked.

"Shirou nodded "Yeah, it can also give it attributes it didn't have before."

Agatha hummed for a moment in thought and said "They do sound quite a bit alike don't they. The biggest difference I think of between the two would be this. If you had a block of wood and used alteration on it, it would be akin to using a woodcarving knife on it. However, if used Alchemy on the same block of wood it would be like putting it in a wood chipper, breaking it down into little pieces."

"That is correct Gibo-san." An elegant childlike voice replied from the doorway.

Agatha's head snapped to the door where her childlike kidnapper stood, being flanked by two identical looking women in white nun-like uniforms who Agatha assumed were the girl's maids.

Shirou by contrast looked over calmly and smiled before greeting her as if she was a hostess and he was a welcome guest, "Illyasviel-san, thank you for having us in your home."

The girl's eyes shined with mirth as she curtsied and replied, "My pleasure Onii-chan. I hope you found your accommodations' to your liking? And please call me Illya."

Shirou gave the room another once over before nodding and saying "It's nice, but tying us up with handkerchiefs''? A tad cliché don't you think?"

"I figured since I was playing the villain, I should act the part." The albino girl replied with a shrug.

Shirou resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her reply before asking his hostess "What now? I'm assuming you were listening in on our conversations from the moment I woke up?"

_'__Cute.'_ He thought as she blushed and stuttered out "I-I wasn't spy-I mean, I didn't mean to listen in on anything personal! I just wanted to make sure you were n't planning to escape that's all. Yes that's it." She said more to herself than him.

If the sideways looks her maids briefly shared were any indication, even they didn't believe her just then. Regardless, Shirou chose to ignore this and ask "What now?"

"Now, we're going to talk about Papa. I'm going to ask you questions and you're going to answer them. And, if I feel you're lying to me…" Illya lets the sentence hang.

Shirou suddenly became serious and grim-faced. Silently, he nodded saying "Ask away."

Illya walked further into the room, her maids flanking her. Taking a seat in one of the now vacant chairs, she got herself comfortable and said "First question Onii-chan. Why did Papa destroy the Grail ten years ago?"

"I don't know. I was only seven when he adopted me after the fire." Shirou replied neutrally.

Illya stared at him for a moment before nodding in acceptance and saying "Fair enough. Next question, did Papa ever tell you about me?"

Shirou shook his head "He didn't." Upon seeing Illya flinch at that answer, he added "However, he would go on trips."

"Trips?" Illya asked for clarification.

Shirou nodded, "Yeah, he'd go on trips leaving the Fuyuki harbor on a ship. He'd be gone for months at a time, the longest, he was gone, was half a year."

Hope kindled in Illya's eyes as she asked "Did-did he ever tells you where he was going on these trips of his?"

"After I bugged him enough he finally said that he was going to Germany to try and save someone crucial to him."

Illya's eyes widened in shock as she thought _'Germany? So I was right, Grandpapa did lie! Papa tried to come back for me, but he couldn't get past the family bounded fields I bet. But he was the Magus Killer, even if it took him some time, he should've been able to break through the Einzbern bounded fields.'_ She thought.

"Was there something wrong with him, was he sick?" Illya asked, hoping to get to the bottom of this mystery.

"Yeah actually. He was always thin, haggard, and gaunt. I assumed he had cancer or something." Shirou replied.

_'__Cancer huh? Unlikely, sounds more like a curse. One powerful enough to affect his magic circuits and thus his body.'_ Illya thought to herself.

"Do you have any more questions about the Old Man Illya-chan?" Shirou asked.

"Old Man, you didn't call Papa dad or something more respectful?" She asked with a slight frown in her Onii-chan's direction.

Shirou shrugged "It never felt right calling him dad. Old Man just seemed right. Now I have a question of my own. Why did you kidnap us?"

Giving him a sweet smile of a ten-year-old Illya replied "I told you earlier didn't I? I'm keeping you Onii-chan. I've decided you're going to say here with me, where you'll be safe until the War is over."

_'__So she kidnaped me to keep me out of the danger the Grail War presented? But why would she kidnap Mom too? Unless..?'_

"Illya-chan, Where's your Mom?" Shirou asked gently.

The little girl looked away from him and said in a whisper "She's not here anymore, she hasn't been since the last Grail War ten years ago."

Everything suddenly fell into place and Shirou slowly got up from the bed and slowly made his way over to the girl. Not stopping even when her maids stiffened at his sudden movement towards their mistress. He gently wrapped his arms around her and that seemed to be her queue to break down crying. Shirou looked to the two statuesque maids and asked "What happened to her?"

"Lady Irisviel fulfilled her duty as the Lesser Grail, absorbing the Souls of five of the Servants and becoming the Lesser Grail." One of them replied stoically.

"Lesser Grail, as in there's more than one?" Shirou asked causing said maid to wince slightly.

Illya spoke up from where her head was buried in Shirou's chest saying the borderline coldly "You talk too much Sella."

The now named Sella bowed in apology saying "Forgive me Mistress, I spoke out of turn."

Sighing, Illya lifted her head from Shirou's chest and said "Cat's out of the bag now." Turning to Shirou, she said blandly "Yes, there are two Grails. I am a physical Lesser Grail, the one that can 'grant any wish' just like all the participants are told. But that isn't the actual purpose of the Grail War."

Seeing the look the boy was giving her that plainly said 'What is the real purpose then?' Illya elaborated "The real aim of the Holy Grail Wars is the Completion of a Greater Ritual that, once Seven Servants have been absorbed by the lesser Grail, it is then connected to the Greater Grail. This Greater Grail will then punch a hole to the Root itself."

"I'm sorry, could you explain this in laymen's terms for someone who isn't a mage?" Agatha asked dryly.

Shirou had been so caught up in what was going on he had forgotten his mother was actually present. Scratching his head in embarrassment, he turned to her and said, "Sorry Mom, how much of that didn't you understand?"

"Take it from the top, please." Agatha requested with a slight haze to her cheeks. Agatha was quite embarrassed to be unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Basically, Illya here is being used as a container of sorts. Once seven of the fourteen Servants have been killed, she'll die. After which, becoming a physical conduit that will then enact an extremely power bit of magic that will, in essence, punch a hole to the Root."

Agatha's eyes widened behind her glasses. "They would sacrifice a child to get to this Root place? Is it really worth that?"

"You misunderstand Gibo-san, the Root is what could be called God if God were a place. It contains all knowledge of past, present, future events and phenomena."

"God, this ritual lets you punch a whole to what amounts to Heaven?" Agatha asked feeling lightheaded at the prospect.

"Some theorize the Root is actually god's Throne, but yes, that is more or less the Gist of it," Illya replied.

"There's, just one problem Illya-chan, **I have no intention of letting you die," **Shirou said, a regal air of command entering his tone.

Agatha recognized a command voice immediately. She could only watch enthralled as her son did something that would make her oh so proud to be his mother for years to come.

"You can't stop it Onii-chan, it's my fate. But thank you for caring." Illya said.

Smirking a bit crazily, Shirou replied **"Can't, just watch me!"**

Onii-chan, even if by some miracle you managed to stop me from becoming the Lesser Grail it wouldn't matter! It wouldn't matter because I'd only have a year left to live anyway, probably less."

**"****Explain."** Shirou all but demanded.

Sighing Illya indulged him "I'm a homunculus Onii-chan a magic circuit given human form. Though I was born naturally, I was created to become the Lesser Grail. I've been burning through stores of prana like you couldn't imagine. Once those stores are gone, I will die."

She then smiled at him and continued, "You can't save me, but it would me a lot to me if you'd stay with me till my time comes." Illya told him.

Shirou was silent for a long moment when he spoke again, it was as if he spoke with the authority of a king or a would-be god as he said **"Fuck Fate Illya. You will not become the Lesser Grail, and you will live a long full life. I promise you this. And the reason I promise you this is because I will not accept any other outcome."**

For a moment, however brief, Illya saw visions of herself as her real teenage self, sharing her fist kiss, and dating redheaded boys. Then, several years down the road, getting married to one such golden-eyed redhead. She realized with a start that she'd been envisioning kissing, dating, and eventually marrying her Onii-chan!

_'__Stop it Illya!'_ She chastised herself _'It's just a pipedream. Besides, he probably doesn't feel that way about you.'_ She told herself dejectedly.

Saddened she asked, "Can we change the subject, please?"

"Take me to your kitchens." Shirou all but demanded.

"Ehh?" Illya said thrown for a loop.

"I need to think and I do my thinking best while doing one of these four things. Cleaning, working on my various katas, practicing my magecraft or cooking. This place is probably kept spotless by your maids, I don't have the necessary equipment to practice my katas, and I don't think you trust me enough to let me practice my magecraft here yet. So, take me to your kitchens." He explained.

"I-I see. So you know how to cook. Did Papa teach you?" Illya inquired.

"Sort of. He was such an awful cook that I needed to learn how to cook so we both wouldn't starve to death."

"He was that bad Shirou-san?" the other maid asked concernedly.

"He somehow managed to burn water at one point," Shirou recalled before turning to Illya and saying "Do you have anything in particular you would like to eat?"

After taking a moment to wrap her head around what she'd been told, Illya looked down and muttered something illegible. "What was that?" Shirou asked.

Looking up and locking her crimson eyes with his hazel ones she said "I actually wanted to try a traditional Japanese dinner while I was here. Stella and Leysirett picked up all kinds of ingredients but don't really know how to go about cooking them properly."

Shirou spared the two maids a glance and they did indeed look sheepish. Turning back to Illya and smiling, he replied "Well you're in luck, I am a splendid chef, according to anyone who eats my food. Especially when it comes to Japanese cuisine. Maybe while I'm here, Sella-san and Leyserett-san can give me some finer points on Western cuisine? I admit it's not as good as my Eastern dishes."

"That sounds like fun Shirou-san, but in the end, it's up to the Mistress." The gentler of the two maids, Leyserett replied quietly.

"Go ahead and show Onii-chan to the kitchen's Leysirett and give him any help he may require."

"Make that both of us," Agatha replied, piping up.

"You know how to cook mom?" Shirou asked surprised.

Of course, it's just pure chemistry at the end of the day." Agatha replied with a shrug.

"I consider it more of an art form. But this is fine, I could use someone to bounce ideas off of."

Illya let out a mirthless chuckle and said "Still planning on saving me, eh Onii-chan?"

"Yes." He replied shortly before turning to Leysirett and saying "Lead the way Leysirett-san."

"R-Right, follow me, please." The timid maid squeaked out before marching out of the room the Magi and the Spark quickly falling into step behind.

After the trio had gone, Sella turned to her mistress and asked "Mistress, are you sure allowing him to cook dinner is wise?"

Illyasviel rolled her eyes at her sterner maids worry "It's okay Sella, I have Leysirett watching the two of them, we have their vehicle, and Onii-chan has been disarmed of his Mystic Code. Even if they did somehow manage to escape the mansion, I would know and will just send Hulk to go and fetch them."

After a moment, Sella nodded taciturnly saying "All excellent points my Lady, but what happens when Emiya's group come to reclaim him?"

Illya stopped, stared at her maid for a moment, and then burst out into a childlike fit of laughter. Once she'd managed to calm down, Illya replied "Sella, do you honestly think Onii-chan's Servants can beat BOTH of my Berserkers if they attack at once?"

"No, but-"Sella was cut off by her seemingly younger charge "Then there you have it. They can't win, even if they try. Heh, I welcome them to try actually." Illya boasted before skipping to the door and saying "C'mon, let's go see what Onii-chan is making us for dinner."

Silently, Sella nodded keeping her doubts that Emiya's Servants would give up so easily to herself as she followed her mistress dutifully out of the room…

"But Gramps, Shirou is in trouble. He needs my help." Taiga tried to protest for the twelfth time only for Raiga to slam his cane on the floor in frustration, silencing her.

He had glared at her evenly for a moment before he said "For the last time Taiga, no. No matter how good you are, you are not good enough to take on a Servant. Besides, how do you think Emiya would feel if you ended up dying trying to save him? You know what he's like when it comes to people putting themselves in danger for his sake." Raiga reminded his hyperactive granddaughter.

Taiga's hair covered her eyes as she looked towards the floor, fists clenched, arms shaking as she said "Gramps, I can't lose Shirou. I've already lost Kiritsugu, I lose him too. Not after I promised Kiritsugu, I'd look after him." Taiga was silent for a moment before she said "He acts so much like Kerry-kun you know it's almost like he never…never…"

"Left?" Raiga finished for her.

Taiga nodded "Yeah, it's like Kerry lives on through Shirou." Taiga then looked up with fire in her eyes as she said "That's why can't lose him. Not would be like I losing Kerry-kun all over again, but I could also lose my little brother."

Raiga took a pull from his pipe, letting out a cloud of smoke before he said "Taiga, you selfish naïve fool."

The English teacher's eyes widened in surprise as she stuttered out "W-What?"

"Taiga, Kiritsugu is dead. He's dead, and barring some kind of divine intervention he's not coming back." Raiga said calmly while staring at his granddaughter.

"I know that!" She snapped at him only to wilt under the harsh glare she received in response to her outburst.

"You see, I don't think you do. I think you're projecting your feelings you had for Kiritsugu onto Shirou-kun."

Taiga scoffed "Don't be ridiculous Gramps, Shirou is just my little brother. Nothing more nothing less."

Raising a thin gray eyebrow the leader of the Fujimura Group replied dubiously "Oh really, then why did you say it would be like losing Kiritsugu twice then? Plus," Seeing the girl stiffen in response, Raiga smirked and continued "That's what I thought. The last thing the others need is an emotionally confused Oni on a rescue mission. Besides, I've got a job for you." He finished.

_'__Is Gramps right, do I really think about Shirou in a way I shouldn't? He's not Kerry-kun, Shirou is…young and naïve while Kerry always seemed wise and worldly. Plus, Shirou can cook, Kerry-kun could never cook. Not that I have any room to talk.'_ She thought to herself with a wry smile.

She then continued down her train of thought "Shirou and Kerry are clearly different people.I know that, but…why is it every time I look at Shirou, I can't help but feel what I felt when I was around Kerry-kun?" she asked herself.

"That's what you need to figure out and why I can't let you go on this rescue mission Taiga," Raiga said solemnly.

"Eh, I said that out loud?!" Taiga asked. Seeing her grandfather's smirk and accompanying nod Taiga couldn't help but let out one of her trademark "GAOO~!"

Once she calmed down she slumped over in defeat and said "Ok, so I need to figure out a few things. What do you want me to do in the meantime?"

"I want you to take a few of the boys and go to the warehouse. Then, bring back all of our magical and computer components. Alchemically infused metal, gems, wiring, and motherboards. Bring back anything and everything that could possibly be useful." The elder Oni replied.

Taiga looked at him like he was crazy for a moment before she asked "Why?"

Raiga suppressed a groan and took another pull on his pipe. Breathing out the acrid cancerous smoke, Raiga replied,"Because, if Emiya can build a makeshift machinegun Mystic Code out of PVC pipe, some copper wire, and a crate full of batteries; what do you think he'll be capable of once he gets his hands on some decent components?" Raiga asked with a devious smirk on his face.

It was a smirk soon mirrored by Taiga. Giving the elder Oni a nod she quickly left the room. Shouts and threats of violence followed soon after by the screeching of tires and then blessed silence were heard.

Through it all Raiga smirked like the wily demon he was, _'I sure hope she comes to the right conclusion. I bet fifty thousand USD on her ending up with Emiya. The fact it's something I've always wanted to happen would just be icing on the cake.'_ He thought as he took another drag on his unicorn hornpipe.

Over at the Emiya Estate, everyone who had volunteered to go and save a certain third-rate Magus were gearing up for the coming confrontation…All but one.

"I don't think this is wise brother," Akiha told Shiki calmly.

Shiki Tohno sighed not for the first time since he told his sister that he was going on the rescue mission. In fact, this was roughly the seventeenth time they would have this argument.

"And I can't just sit by and do nothing sis." He replied evenly though this back and forth was beginning to fray on his nerves.

"You're not under any obligation to help him Shiki," Ahkiha told her brother. And it was true, Shiki didn't know Shirou, he wasn't there that day in the Tohno Estate nine years prior, having not yet been adopted into the family.

"And you are?" Shiki shot back as he began to fiddle with his knife Seven Nights. Flicking it open and closed seemingly without thought.

"Yes," Akiha replied quietly.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, the younger Tohno asked, "Why is that exactly?"

Suppressing a sigh, Akiha looked over at Kohaku seemingly silently asking for permission for something from the maid. The usually cheerful girl had frowned for a moment before she nodded.

Turning back to her adoptive brother, she replied "Shiki, you know about my families…genetic condition?"

The boy with eyes that could see death could only cock his head to the side in confusion wondering what this had to do with Shirou, and said as much.

"Well." Akiha began "Kohaku and Hisui aren't ordinary maids. They were a part of the Fujou clan, members of the Demon Hunter Organization. They are Synchronizers and have the power to transfer their life force to others through sharing of bodily fluids."

It showed on his face that he didn't understand what he was being told. So, someone decided to be blunt.

"I was continuously raped for years Shiki-san. Due to the Makihisa needed energy to maintain his sanity, he abused me for years as he could get the most energy out of me that way." Kohaku told him in a faraway stoic tone, her eyes like amber colored glass.

Shiki was stunned. He knew the old man was a hard-ass, but he never realized he was this twisted. "H-How old were you when he..?"

"He started when I was but six. For two years, I was violated tortured by that man…then he came. My Knight along with Aoko Aozaki and several others to rescues the princess from the dragon."

Now Shiki understood. He saved Kohaku from a terrible fate. _'Well, perhaps saved is a strong word. It __**did **__go on for two years, after all. But he ended it sooner rather than later.'_

Kohaku smiled just a little as she said "When I asked him how he knew I was in trouble afterward do you know what he said?"

Shiki shook his head and Kohaku replied "He said he could smell blood, madness, and brimstone coming from the room Makihisa kept me, in along with the scent of maple syrup."

"…What?" Shiki asked.

Life seemed to return to Kohaku's eyes as she giggled at the look on his face. She then replied, "You see Shiki, Magi can sense magic in some way or another and Shirou, due to his Metal affinity, can smell magic. Which makes sense since, in Chinese medicine, Metal is connected to the sense of smell."

"Oh. So that's how he found you, and why you owe him…" Shiki finished.

Ahkiha nodded picking up where Kohaku left off "Yes. Apparently, Miskahisa decided the medicine he was getting from Sougen-sensei to control his Inversion Impulse and its symptoms weren't good enough so he used Kohaku as well. The irony is, Shirou was there that day to deliver his medication from the man."

"Awkward," Shiki muttered.

Ahkiha smirked "Indeed, Aoko was livid she was this close." Ahkiha pinched her thumb and index finger together leaving a small space in-between "To just disintegrating the man when Shirou led her to his room. However, Shirou had other ideas."

The sinister smile on his sisters' face said whatever Shirou did, it was a demon worthy. Suppressing a shiver, he asked, "What dare I ask did he do sis?"

It was Kohaku who answered "He merely asked the room at large if there was any way to return everything Miskahisa took from me. Much to everyone's surprise at the time, Aoko-san said yes. Shirou-san then convinced her to use the Fifth Magic. Not only remove all the energy Miskahisa had taken from me over the years, but also the memories of him raping me. She then gave my memories to the bastard…No offense Ahkiha-sama." Kohaku said looking over at her employer.

"None taken, now please continue." She said.

"Right, well this made him feel my self-loathing, pain, and fear. As an added bonus, since he had my memories it was as if he had raped himself instead of me."

Shiki had turned slightly green at the prospect for a moment before he said "Shirou-san is devious."

"You don't know the half of it," Ahkiha said "He never touched Kohaku after that. Partly due to the memories and partly due to the fact that, Aoko told him that she would be checking in on her regularly. If anything happened to her and she found out about it, she would disintegrate him one centimeter at a time until he was dead. And then she would revive him and do it all over again until she was satisfied."

Shiki had no words. He had no idea Sensei, the woman who valued all life and passed on the 'meaning of life' to him could be so…violent.

"Surprised I could act like that Shiki?" a very familiar voice asked.

Turning around, he found Sensei leaning against the open sliding door staring at him expectantly.

"Sensei, to be honest, yeah. The Sensei I remember wasn't like that, what changed you?" he asked.

"Shirou did." She had replied before she reiterated "Well to be fair, I learned the original lesson upon attaining the Fifth. But, his utterly selfless nature though the crazy half that time, was always good-natured at heart, and that really hammered it home."

Shiki took a moment to process this before he nodded and said "And now that person is in danger."

A pained look had flashed across his Sensei's eyes before she replied "Yes, the person who helped teach me that all life is valuable is in danger. He is also my betrothed."

Ehh~! How?-" Shiki began only to be cut off by Sensei saying "We entered into a magically binding contract on accident."

"I see. Well then, it looks like it's time for the Tohno family to pay back a debt." Shiki replied serenely.

Ahkiha again protested "You don't owe him anything broth-" she was interrupted by Shiki who said sharply "You're wrong Ahkiha!"

His tone softened as he continued "You're wrong, I do owe him something, after all. He's Sensei's Sensei. He taught her the value of life, and she taught me. I owe him that for that as Tohno Shiki as well as the kindness he's shown Kohaku-chan…" he said calmly.

Reaching up towards his glasses and shutting his eyes he finished. "But in order to pay him back, I need to not be Tohno Shiki and become-" He then took off his glasses and immediately after, a feeling of bloodlust filled the air. Shiki grinned a wolf-like grin as he opened his eyes, which glowed a bright sapphire blue and he spoke in a deep, an almost sinister baritone **"Nanaya Shiki."**

He then messed up his hair giving himself a slightly wild look before he looked around a moment and said **"So the little lamb decided to let the wolf out to play did he? Heh, typical of him. Letting me do his dirty work for him."**

"B-Brother?" Ahkiha asked, a fearful timber in her voice.

Nanaya glanced at Ahkiha briefly, with no malice in his tone as he said "**Yes and no, I am what Shiki could and should be. I am Nanaya, his real self, and his ingrained Demon Hunter instincts'. It is only because of your father's meddling that we seem different, when in fact we are the same person."**

"So you're a killer then?" Aoko asked coolly eying her student.

**"****Tch, think of me as more like a peacekeeper****_ Sensei,"_** Nanaya replied mockingly**_ "_****It was my families' job to eliminate Oni who succumbed to their Inversion Impulse and kill them before they could harm innocent people."**

He then grinned sadistically and said **"To be honest though, I just see that as a convenient excuse to do what I love doing. What I was born to do."**

Aoko couldn't help but think of Nanaya as Shirou's opposite. He enjoyed killing immensely and the byproduct of his kills was that others were kept safe. While Shirou would kill 'others, he took no pleasure from it and would only do so in order to keep others from harm.

Upon coming to this realization, she said, "Shiki, were you serious about helping me get Shirou back."

**"****Of course sensei. I said I would didn't I? The fact that the idiot got himself captured means I get to fight strong opponents to the death, to get him back. Sounds like fun."**

"I see, thank you, Shiki," Aoko said at length, her eyes narrowed when she called her Shirou an idiot.

"Brother are you-I mean do you-" Ahkiha's sentence was finished by Nanaya who said **"Hate you? No…but Ahkiha, if you ever lose control, I'll do my job."** He warned her with euphoric glee in his eyes at the thought.

"That's enough Shiki, your scaring Ahkiha-chan."

Every head turned to the doorway where Arcueid stood wearing her typical white sweater, black skirt, black leggings, and brown leather boots. Her arms were crossed and she was clearly frowning at her boyfriend.

Shiki merely rolled his eyes and replied **"I don't see what the problem is, I am only reassuring her that I'm not going to let her hurt anyone should she loose her mind."** He then looked at the True Ancestor and smirked before adding **"Unless you're just jealous Arc."**

"What?!" She asked.

Still smirking Nanaya finished "**Oh yes it's all so clear to me now, you're jealous I may be sticking my knife into somebody besides you aren't you?"**

Arc was now blushing furiously as she pouted "Your mean Shiki."

"And uncouth," Ahkiha added with her own blush staining her cheeks.

**"****What are you both talking about? I was talking about stabbing her with my knife."** He said flicking his switchblade out for all to see. Yet, the smirk on his face said he was well aware of the double entendre he just used.

The sour atmosphere was suddenly broken by Aoko, who burst out into a fit of giggles at his jibe at the two women. Once she calmed down, she said "It seems, you actually do have a sense of humor Shiki. That's good, for a minute there I thought you were going all Michael Myers on me."

**"****Tch. I consider myself more akin to Freddy Krueger than that second rate hack. At least Freddy has some style."** Nanaya replied.

"True, so if you're done trying to put the fear of you into Ahkiha-chan, are you ready to go?" Aoko asked.

Nanaya briefly locked eyes with Arcueid before saying "You're staying here."

"Awe, but why?!" she whined.

"Someone needs to protect the others, so it's probably for the best that you stay behind. Good thinking Shiki."

The young killer merely scoffed and replied "I wasn't thinking about that at all. I just don't want her stealing any of my kills with that damn Marble Phantasm of hers."

Aoko tried and failed to suppress a groan as she followed him out of the room. She then turned her thought's to her captured beau _'Don't worry, we're coming Shirou. We're going to get you back.'_ She promised while mentally psyching herself up for the fight that was to come.

The two soon reached the living room where Ceil, Shiki, Rin, Spiderman, her now fully healed second Archer, and Shirou's four Servants stood ready and raring to go.

She looked at those assembled and asked "Are you all ready? Now's the time to back out if you want to."

"Well, since you offered," Rin's red and black clad Archer said casually only to be smack upside the head by his fellow Archer at Rin's prompting.

Rin then said "You don't have a choice, you'll go where I tell you to go Archer. Besides, we owe him. All three of us."

"Please don't remind me, being indebted to a suicidal idiot leaves a bad taste in my mouth." The bronze-skinned archer quipped.

Aoko cleared her throat gaining the two's attention she then locked eyes with the silver-eyed archer and said "You clearly don't like Shirou, and that's fine. You don't have to like him, you just have to save him from the enemy. Can you do that, can I trust you to do that?"

In response, Archer let out a long suffering sigh and replied, "I suppose so. I mean I can't rightly let Rin and the clown rush in there by themselves now can I?" he said smirking as Spiderman let out an indignant 'Hey!' in being called a clown.

Aoko stared at the Servant of the Bow for a moment longer before she nodded and said "I can live with that. C'mon people, we've got an idiot to save!"

"And once you get him back, his magecraft training will begin in earnest to make sure this doesn't happen again," Alice commented coolly, clearly agitated.

Aoko nodded knowing the reason the Kuonji witch was upset was due to the fact that the closest thing she had to family was currently in danger.

"We'll bring him back Alice, don't worry," Aoko promised her before heading out the door followed by the others.

Yet, even as they raced towards the woods where the twin Berserkers were seen heading Aoko couldn't help but think that Rin's Archer seemed vaguely familiar…

Back at the Einzbern Mansion, Shirou was working on a smorgasbord of Japanese style food in vast quantities with his mother assisting with limited direction on his part. As the two worked, Shirou bounced, several ideas for possibly helping Illya off of her, and Agatha would ask the occasional question to get a better understanding of magecraft, in general. She seemed to think of something when Shirou told her about elemental affinities. In particular, how Lightning and Fire were two separate categories.

"But at their core, they are the same thing," Agatha complained as she kept an eye on the omelets she was cooking for her son.

"Hmm, what do you mean?" Shirou asked, only half paying attention as he was currently making some sushi.

Shirou suddenly felt a pinpoint glare on his back. He then he then heard his mother huff before she said "Please tell me you at least tried to pay attention to science class dear or I'm going to be cross with you."

"Of course I tried, but I had a slight concentration problem due to headaches…sorry, that was uncalled for." he apologized turning to her.

Agatha shook her head in response and replied, "No, it's fine. Anyway, to sum it up for you Both fire and lightning are unique in that they along with plasma are created via a manipulation of ions either by molecules gaining a net positive or net negative charge. But more importantly they are integral in the creation of plasma. Both lightning and fire are forms of plasma. But that isn't all; plasma can also be used to freeze objects, cross points in space, create stars, and by proxy black holes, and even manipulate the inertia of an object similar to a force field."

"So, in other words, control ions control the world." Shirou surmised.

"Yes! Doesn't it sound exciting?!" Agatha asked.

Shirou thought it over for a moment _'Looking into this field of research could certainly help me save more lives, especially Illya's. But I don't want to rule over anyone. Just keep people safe.'_

"I suppose so. It's something I'll look into if I get the time. Turn the heat down on the rice before it burns please." He said.

"Oh, right." She said before turning down the stove. Turning back to her son, she asked, "How much more do we have to do?"

"We should be just about done. Just as soon as I put the finishing touches on this sushi…"

True to his word once the sushi was finished, the meal was deemed done. With both his mother's and Leyseritt's help, Shirou set a long oaken table big enough to seat thirty with a buffet of Japanese style dishes. Ranging from yakisoba to rice balls, to tayaki chicken and even shark fin soup various deserts.

All the hard work he put into the meal was all worth it when he saw Illya's eyes light up when she saw all the food on display. The way she smiled like a child at Christmas made him feel appreciated, not that people didn't genuinely enjoy his cooking. But the childlike glee that showed in Illya's eyes just looking at everything before she even tried it made him happy.

He was a gentleman and pulled her chair out for her which earned him a smile as she sat down in the high-backed chair. He then did the same for his mother and received the same treatment. Yet he received looks of surprise when he did the same for the two maids and looked over at them expectantly.

"We umm-" Leysirett began only for Sella to finish "You needn't worry about us Shirou-san, we'll eat after you and the mistress have taken your fill."

The third rate magus only shook his head and replied "In Japan, that's considered rude so I'm afraid I must insist Sella-san."

The stern maid let out a sigh, possibly for breaking protocol, but Shirou thought he had seen a ghost of a smile on her face for a moment before she said "If you insist Shirou-san."

After everyone was seated, Shirou said, "Dinner is served."

With that, everyone filled their plates with what interested them. Illya would ask what a dish was and Sella, if she found one she particularly enjoyed would ask him for the recipe. Leyseritt sampled and complimented Shirou on everything he'd cooked though she seemed to favor the seafood dishes if the mounting pile of shrimp tails and lobster husks on her plate were any indications. Agatha for her part, preferred the Japanese style ribs, steak, along with the omelets. Though she had found, the eel to be appealing.

Illya noticed Shirou kept squirming in his seat and couldn't help but ask him if something were wrong.

"It's nothing really, don't worry about it." He said shrugging off her concern.

Illya frowned and said "Onii-chan, what is it? You can tell me anything you know." She said sweetly.

Letting out a minute sigh, Shirou fessed up "I find these chairs to be very uncomfortable, to be honest. How do you stand them?"

"Don't Japanese people sit on the floor to eat?" Illya asked bemused.

Nodding Shirou replied "We do, but that's because we don't usually have tables high enough off the ground to require chairs. Especially not ones this big and stiff." Shirou muttered to himself.

Mirth filling her eyes, Illya turned to Leyseritt and said "If you could go and grab one of the overstuffed armchairs from the study for Onii-chan Leyseritt?"

After her combat maid had left, Illya couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable the chairs really were now that it had been pointed out to her.

_'__I should ask Leysirett to bring me an armchair too, these really aren't comfortable.' _She thought with a frown.

As Leysirett returned with an overstuffed armchair for her guest, she was followed by Hulk, who was carrying four more of them under his arms with no effort what so ever. Once everyone had a more comfortable seat, Shirou turned to the green behemoth, whom he could tell was restraining his vast power, as he could feel a charge in the air. It was like a powder keg just waiting to go off.

The Green King stared at the boy in turn after a moment he asked, **"Something you want to say, boy?"**

"I was just wondering if you were hungry, Hulk-san was it?" Shirou asked politely.

He heard Illya giggle and say "Onii-chan, Hulk is a Servant, he doesn't need to eat."

"I know, but I figured I could at least offer him something. If he's anything like my Servants, he can pack away the food." The redhead said good-naturedly.

"You feed your Servants onii-chan?" Illya asked perplexed.

Smiling he replied "Of course even if they are technically dead, they were human and alive at one point right? So it would only be proper to offer them something to eat even if they turn it down."

"I…suppose you have a point there," Illya replied, suddenly feeling guilty for, not taking things like that into account. She looked at her Servant then, guilt evident in her crimson orbs as she silently asked for his forgiveness.

In response, the Green King reached over with a single finger and gently stroked Illya's head saying **"You worry too much little master. But if your offering, that steak looks rather appetizing."**

Agatha passed him the bowl of cut strips of steak which he promptly devoured as a single mouthful of food. He chewed it slowly, juices flowing down his chin before he swallowed and remarked **"Delicious."**

"Glad you liked it," Shirou replied realizing that asking the not so jolly green giant to use tableware would be redundant as A. He would snap them all like twigs, and B. there was no tableware in existence big enough to fit in his hands.

"What about your other Servant, would he possibly like something?" Shirou asked Illya.

"Well, I dunno. If I brought him out, he'd just be under Mad Enhancement. I suppose I could lessen it a bit but…" she trailed off.

"If he tries anything, I'll cave in his skull," The Hulk promised.

With her green-skinned servant's reassurance, Illya brought forth the Black Giant. Only this time he was different. No longer was he giving off a feeling of barely contained bloodlust. Instead the feeling, that the Black Giant could lash out at any second, was now gone, yet the sense of undeniable power remained.

Then, he spoke in rough, choppy English **"Illya…you've…loosened your hold on my leash…why?"**

Gathering her courage the snow-haired girl replied haughtily "Don't thank me Herakules, thank Onii-chan. He thought you might be hungry. Be grateful for his kindness."

Berserker locked eyes with the boy and was surprised. From him, he felt no fear, only a calm resolve. Herakules knew he was in the presence of a fellow warrior, one with enough decency to show him Xenos, Greek guest-friendship, by providing him with food in a foreign land. So, though he and his Mistress knew it not, the boy was now off-limits to his wrath. To do so would be to disgrace his Immortal father, Zeus also known as Zeus Xenios patron of travelers. Such an act could very well cost him a significant portion of his godly might and Illya needed to be protected.

To decline the food would also be considered rude. So, with a silent nod to the boy, he partook of the strange foreign delicacies sealing an unspoken pact. After he had eaten his fill, he turned to the lad and said **"You have…My thanks. And you and your…Are now protected by Xenos, the pact of guest friendship. I cannot harm you…or those under you."**

"Ehh~! What are you talking about Herakules?" Illya demanded.

**"****It is..as I as Mistress. He is now protected by Xenos. I cannot harm him or his…lest I loose much of my strength…due to my divine father being the…patron of travelers." **The demigod replied.

"But that means…?"

**"****He can't attack the boy's Servants**,**"** Hulk grunted before his head snapped to the side and he said **"This is unfortunate seeing as a rescue party has come to collect the boy."**

"What?! How can you tell? I didn't feel anyone pass my boundary field." Illya asked.

**"****Warriors intuition. I knew this was the calm before the storm. No doubt they waited for nightfall to make their move. Permission to engage?"** he asked.

"Hulk we don't even know that they'll-" Illya stopped as she felt a dozen brief buzzing sensations in the back of her skull, signifying a decent sized party had just crossed her bounded field into the forest.

Seeing the Green King smirking at her knowingly Illya puffed out her cheeks "Shut up and go do your job." She sulked, before turning to Herakules and saying "Berserker, can you only not harm his servants? Because at least a dozen people are headed, our way and Onii-chan only has four of them."

**"****As long…as they are not his Servants…I should be able…to combat them."** The son of Zeus replied standing up.

"Umm, I don't suppose I could convince you to avoid unnecessary bloodshed by letting me go, could I?" Shirou asked.

In response, Illya just smiled serenely at him and said "Silly Onii-chan, I told you already, I'm keeping you."

Signing the redhead replied "You can't blame a guy for trying, right? I don't suppose I could ask you just to beat them and **_not _**to kill them could I?"

"And ignore the entire purpose of the War? Surely you jest Shirou-san." Sella said.

"We can do that Onii-chan," Illya replied.

"M-Mistress?! Have you forgotten there is a war going on?" Sella asked.

Illya had fixed her maid with a glare before she replied "No, I haven't. But it would be boring to kill them all in one go like this. Besides, if I killed them, Onii-chan would be upset, right?" she asked him expectantly.

"I-It certainly would make me happier for them to be alive rather than dead." He replied.

Illya nodded. While not exactly thrilled at allowing enemy Servants to slip from her grasp, she had come to…enjoy her Onii-chan and his eccentricities. So, if sparing his Servants would make him happy. Then that's what she would do. Even if, killing them were the most logical choice.

She then addressed him with a semi-serious gaze "Did you mean it?"

"Huh? Was his eloquent response.

"Earlier when you said you were going to save me from my fate as the Lesser Grail, did you mean it?" Illya clarified.

Shirou closed his eyes and nodded vigorously before opening them and showing they were burning with resolve as he said "Every word. A friend of mine once told me there were three rules to being a hero. That not everyone can be saved, that not everyone wants to be saved and that not everyone deserves to be protected. I think you can, want, and deserve to be saved Illya, so that's what I'm going to do." He promised.

Thank you, Onii-chan." She then turned to her Servants and said "Go, defeated the enemy but do not kill them…however, should an enemy master-servant team be present, feel free to eliminate them."

"As you say Misstress." Both Servants said a once before they made their way out of the castle and towards their enemies.

The ragtag group of heroes slowly made their way through the E'inzbern forest. Aoko, who was leading the group, had thought about just flat out destroying the boundary field around the place, but then thought better of it. Aoko was banking that the Master of those twin Berserkers would send them both out to utterly crush them. If they could defeat them both or at the very least, hold them off long enough for some of the others to sneak in and steal Shirou and Agatha back from their kidnappers.

_'__But before that, I need to deal with the straggler.'_ Aoko thought before raising a hand and calling for a halt in a moderately sized clearing.

After the group had come to a full stop, Saber inquired "What is it Aoko, do you sense the enemy?" she asked as she looked around the clearing for possible threats.

"I don't sense anything, what's going on Aoko?" Lancer politely posed in her gender neutral monotone.

Clearing her throat, the Fifth Magician replied "Nothin serious, I just thought we should deal with the straggler that was following us. Right, Zeetha-san?"

The green haired dusky-skinned Amazon walked out of the trees like a ghost still wearing the three-piece black suit Shirou had provided for her with her Indian style blades crisscrossed along her back.

She promptly leaned against a tree after locking eyes with Aoko and saying "I'm not going to sit back and do nothing while Agatha is in danger."

"Fair enough, you can go with Shiki to collect Shirou and Agatha-san while the rest of us hold off the two Servants."

**"****Oi, Sensei! That isn't why I came with you!"** Shiki growled out.

"Well, that's why I brought you along Shiki-kun, now get going and take Zeetha-san with you." She said to make shooing motions towards the castle in the distance.

The born killer narrowed his eyes in annoyance at how dismissive his teacher was with him, but he knew better than to argue with her. So with a huff, he turned his back to her and complied with her wishes not even bothering to turn around as he said to Zeetha **"Keep up or stay out of my way woman."**

"Isn't he charming? Zeetha commented before following the boy into the looming darkness.

Only moments after the two disappeared into the darkness, Lancer's head snapped to the heaven's and she shouted "Incoming twelve 'o'clock! Everyone scatter!"

The warning came just in time, and everyone moved out of the way right before the earth was turned to pulp upon being crushed by two gigantic figures. The main bulk of the rescue party tensed as the dust cloud cleared…sure enough, standing there in a four foot deep crater were both of the Berserker's from earlier.

The green-skinned king looked around and made note of two familiar faced grinning madly as he did so. Stepping out of the pit, he created when he landed Hulk eyed the two and nodding towards them he said "Well, well if it isn't Spiderman and logan's brat. And here I thought this war would be boring."

"Hulk," Spiderman replied giving the not-so-jolly-green-giant and fellow Avenger a tense greeting. "It's not that I'm not happy to see you big guy, I am, but considering the circumstances…"

A rumbling chuckle escaped the Green Kings throat. _'Even now, Spiderman is sentimental. That's what always made him the strongest of us.'_ Hulk mused _'Not his strength, speed or agility, but his empathy for others even one such as me.'_

"It is good to see a fellow Avenger. However, you can relax, as I will not be your opponent tonight." Sweeping an arm out to his onyx colored ally Hulk intoned "That honor belongs to my friend here."

Hulk then pointed at Talon and Shirou's three remaining Servants as well as Aoko and said "You five shall be fighting me this night."

Then without warning,i green ethereal energy gathered in his palms moments before he clapped them together. The action sent out a shockwave that created a trench as it tore up the ground as he threw his five chosen opponents flying into the trees, which were torn into toothpicks by the blast.

Hulk smirked as they landed in a heap a good hundred-fifty meters away. Turning to the Greek demigod, he said, "I leave the rest to you." Before leaping towards the makeshift battlefield.

Herakules turned to his opponents and studied them. One was the 'Spiderman' his fellow Berserker recognized, another was likely little master, clad in clothes that did not at all suit the chill weather. She was probably the master of the black armored and red-cloaked individual as well. The blue-black haired girl in black robes eyed him coolly with a gaze of a hardened veteran who had seen many battles. They stared at one another for a time, a tension thickening in the air as either side waited for the other to make a move.

Then, an explosion was heard behind them from where the fight had already commenced between Hulk, Shirou's Servant's, and the Fifth Magician. As if that was some unspoken signal, two of the four charged Berserker in the form of Spiderman and the girl wearing a short black sleeveless dress covered in tattoos was now holding eight blades. Four in each hand held between her fingers and in one case her thumb.

She immediately flipped over him and launched all of her blades at once. When they struck his rock-like hide, they all simultaneously burst into flame. To a Demigod that had entered Hades, tt did nothing more than annoy him. He turned to watch her land hoping to land a crippling blow and taking her out of the fight, only to quickly turn and block a sharpened mass of…something from impaling him through the heart.

He looked at the remains of what could only be described as webbing, most of it shredded at his feet, but a few strands stuck to his axe-sword. But he didn't have time to gawk as he had to deflect a red bolt of light coming towards his chest that was presumably shot by the red and black clad Archer.

Berserker couldn't help but smirk at the crimson and black-clothed servant as he lifted his axe-sword and charged. He wasn't at all surprised to see him push his master out of the way, as it was a Servants job to Serve and protect their Master. However, it gave him just enough time to remove the gap between them and call out the name of his Noble Phantasm. The shock the appeared in the Archer's eyes when he spoke was gratifying, to say the least.

**"****Nine Lives."**

Nine consecutive slashes aimed at the upper arm, collarbone, windpipe, temple, diaphragm, rib, testicles, thighs and heart simultaneously at three times the speed of sound. Or at least, they were supposed to be, the first two strikes went wide scraping across his armor and sending out sprays of blood from the flesh wounds caused. Since the first two strikes were off, this caused all the following six hits to miss Archer's vitals ever so slightly. Thus, when it came time to deal the final blow to the heart, Archer was able to move out of the way, although while in great pain.

Glancing behind him, he noticed two things. The first was that the strands of webbing that were connected to his axe-sword were firmly held by the red and blue clad archer that he'd ignored for the seemingly greater threat. Secondly, the woman ha thrown dozens more of her blades, but not to him she seemed to have impaled…his shadow?

_'__Ah, I see; some sort of binding magic. Not enough to stop me, but enough that, when combined with the interference from the other Servant slowed down Nine Lives enough to both throw it off and spare his life.'_ Berserker thought.

Giving his crude weapon a hard yank, he snapped the lines coating it and turned to the other two, intending to give them a nod of respect. Only to find the woman from earlier rushing towards him carrying what he could only equate to a large, entirely metal crossbow a large spike jutting from its bottom. As the woman rushed in, she yelled firing more of those thin blades from earlier pages from a book flying by as each blade was sent his way. Again, the blades did nothing as they struck his onyx hide, but even in his addled state, Berserker had a feeling they weren't supposed to.

'Distraction,' he thought, raising his weapon in time to deflect the spike that was aimed at his heart into his left pectoral and then, when it was fired it went through his lung. She then looked at him and shouted "Archer now!"

"Way ahead of you, **_I am the bone of my sword, Caladbolg II!" _**

The mighty Herakules then felt himself stabbed from behind and from out of the center of his chest burst a spiral shaped piece of metal.

The woman immediately leaped back. Leaving the spike embedded in his chest, as moments later the spiral shaped hunk of metal exploded violently. Releasing its pent-up energies in the form of a gout of flame and kicking up an obscuring dust cloud.

"Did we win?" Spiderman asked.

_'__If my memory serves, we need to kill Herakules at least ten more times, then again I have no idea what Ciels' Seventh Holy Scripture would do to something like God Hand.'_ Archer thought to himself.

He soon had his answer. Herakules stood in the now settling dust the gaping hole in his chest caused by Caladbolg II already shrinking. While the one inflicted by the spike seemed to be pulsating and spasming, as if it was trying to heal but was unable to.

Still even with a gaping wound like that, the bastard son of Zeus was still a viable threat. Herakules looked at his non-healing wound then at the one who caused it, before he narrowed his eyes at the woman. He felt his little master shunting more prana to him in an effort to overpower whatever it was that was preventing God Hand from closing his wound. Slowly, oh so slowly but surely, the hole in his chest did begin to shut.

Archer appeared in front of the woman a black and white blade in either hand prepared to defend. Only to pause when his red, blue, and spider themed ally put a hand on his shoulder and said "Tag, you're out, I'm in. Take five buddy."

Archer gave Spiderman an incredulous look and replied "You can't be serious, right?"

The wallcrawler jerked his neck from side to side cracking his neck before he replied "Ya know, I haven't actually been taking this War all that seriously. I'm too used to pulling my punches against the villain. But now, I think it's time I got serious and showed you and Rin just why I'm called the Spectacular Spiderman."

He then slowly walked up to Herakules and looked up into his eyes before saying "What do you think buddy, you and me one on one mano-e-monstro?"

Herakules looked down at the man who just barely reached up to his waist and thought _'Clearly he is addled to fight me alone. Addled or very brave. We shall find out which soon enough.'_

**"****Very well Man-Spider…I accept your challenge." **Herakules spoke.

"Heh, Man-Spider, now that brings back memories," The Webhead said nostalgically.

"Spiderman?"

Said hero looked over at his Master who was gazing at him with a worried expression "Are you sure you can take him all by yourself?"

Smiling beneath his mask, he replied "No worries Rin, I've fought bigger and badder than this guy here. Remind me to tell you about Firelord sometime." Turning back to the Black Giant he asked, "You ready big guy?"

Seeing Berserker nod with a bemused smile on his face Peter couldn't help but say "Don't blink. **Enhanced Genetics."** He had intoned before he charged in.

Sliding on his knees he dove between the Black Giants legs, shooting him in the back of his legs with impact webbing, forcing him to his knees. He then promptly ran up his back springboard off his head and connecting several weblines to his shoulders, before using all his momentum and strength to launch Berserker through the air.

Jaws dropped, but Spiderman wasn't done. He shot a webline from each hand, one to each tree, and then threw himself backward in a blur of red and blue. Once the lines were taut and stretched as far as they could, he catapulted himself like a slingshot towards the airborne Berserker feet first. He hit him with a kangaroo kick to the stomach in midair sending them both crashing into the trees on the other end of the clearing from Hulk and the rest.

As they fell, Herkaules felt his smaller opponent stick to him like glue and strike him repeatedly. His solar plexus, his throat, elbow, diaphragm, kneecaps all were struck with force enough to actually harm him. By the time he crashes landed on the forest floor, he knew he had lost one life from having a lung punctured due to having several ribs broken. His left elbow was shattered elbow, rendering his arm useless. And his right leg was a bloody and mangled mess as his kneecap was torn to splinters, making blood gush and pain lanced up his leg as he attempted to stand up.

His opponent had no intention of letting him stand up however as he stuck a hand to his face and pulled, calling out **"Mark of Kaine."**

Skin, and flesh tore away with a sickening squelch as Spiderman pulled his hand away taking Berserker's good eye and his cheek along with it, effectively rendering him blind.

Even though blind and half crippled, Berserker could still hear. So when he heard the sound of dry leaves rustle and twigs snap, he lashed out with Nine Lives.

Not a single one hit due to a tingling the abnormal Archer felt in the back of his head _'Spidersense tingling.'_

He slid left to avoid the first blow, then to the right for the second, ducked the third, backflipped on the fourth, ducked the fifth, did a split kick to avoid the sixth, made a bridge to avoid the seventh, and did a breakdance maneuvers to avoid the eighth slash. When it came to the ninth thrust, he bent straight backward like Neo from The Matrix watching as the teeth of the axe-sword sailed past him by mere millimeters.

After the final thrust had been pulled back, the wallcrawler counterattacked. Leaping into the air, he again turned himself into a human catapult, only this time, he was launching himself at a stationary target face first. As he flew through the air towards the Black Giant, he called forth yet another Noble Phantasm in his possession.

**"****Spider Talons."**

Twin fangs burst from his palms drenched in venom he was on top of the other Servant in an instant. He plunged both talons into berserkers' eye sockets and into his brain. Pumping corrosive poison into pulped gray matter for a few seconds. Before retracting them and using Berserker's head like a balance beam, spun while gripping his head snapping his neck in the process before landing on his feet behind him.

The fight began and ended in roughly sixty-eight seconds. Spiderman turned around, panting slightly just in time to see the Black Behemoth hit his knees, burying his crude blade into the ground in the process, only to fall face forward into the earth unmoving.

_'__Did…did I do it.'_ The red and blue Archer asked himself.

Seeing that his opponent lay unmoving, he had to assume that yes, he did, in fact, put him down for good.

"Well, like Uncle Ben always said, with Great Power comes Great Responsibility. I think I proved that I have great power today. I'd better get back to the others and give them the good news. I'm sure Talon could use some help against Hulk." He had muttered before he swung off.

After he had left, wounds on the Black Giant began to heal. Bones snapped back into place and flesh reformed until finally he Herakules bastard son of Zeus sat up with a groan. Using his axe-sword to prop himself up; he couldn't help but chuckle as he thought,_'To think, I would lose half my stock of lives within a single engagement. Four of them from a single Servant no less. This Grail War, it truly is something.'_

**_["Your orders Illya?"] _**he thought through their telepathic link.

There was silence for a time and Herakules felt shock coming through their shared bond and he didn't blame her. He too was impressed with the blue, red, and black web-patterned Archer's abilities. To kill him once was a miracle, to kill him four times over? Awe inspiring.

**_["Return to me Berserker. Hulk seems to have everything under control. We'll need to work on replenishing your stock of lives over the coming days."]_**

_'__This War-'_ Berserker thought staring off to where Spiderman had swung off _'Shall not be boring.'_

Back in Einzbern Castle; Shirou clenched the arms of his chair with white knuckles as he watched his fiance and his Servants, his allies, and friends, fought a green behemoth. Thanks to some kind of long range scrying magercraft Illya possessed, involving converting a floating sphere of water into a viewing globe of sorts. He watched as they faced off silently glaring at one another. Then, without warning, Berserker charged, drawing his blade as he went.

Lancer met his charge head on, transforming her right arm into a spear made of hardened clay. Berserker struck out with his sword that was coated in emerald energy. Only for Lancer to avoid it by turning her whole body into wet clay and splitting apart and reforming after the strike hit. Seemingly impaled on his blade, she continued to move forward before thrusting her spear-arm into her opponents chest.

She gouged a hole in his chest stabbing his heart and spilling gratuitous amounts of glowing green blood.

For a brief moment, Shirou thought Lancer had single-handedly defeated Berserker all by herself. Berserker looked down at the wound, then at her before he let out a wrath filled roar. A roar that not only blew Lancer back towards the others, but encapsulated the green giant in a cocoon of energy.

The ground beneath Berserker began to crack and trees caught alight from the energy he was releasing, but more than that, his chest wound was healing.

Now thoroughly enraged; he swung his gladius, sending out a wave of green energy as he did so. It was only due to Saber's quick thinking that they weren't all killed right then. For she met force with force, drawing her primary sword, holding it overhead and calling out its name as it glowed with a golden power.

**"****Cali-Burn!"**

A golden beam of purifying light met the wave of destructive energy head-on the result was a beam of green and gold energy that tried to seemingly pierce the heavens themselves. When the light cleared, a massive hole had been gouged in the earth where the two attacks had collided. But there was more to it than that, the lifeless bodies of dead birds fell from the sky, and the trees were now withered and rotted, wasted away to nothing more than good firewood.

_'__His prana is giving off some kind of radiation, it's killing everything in the area.'_ Shirou realized with a start.

He wasn;t the only one to come to this realization, however, as both Aoko and Lancer looked infuriated by the careless wanton destruction caused by the green king. They looked at each other briefly before they nodded and charged as one, crisscrossing in front of each other to try and confuse him.

Lancer was in front of him when they finally reached him. She turned her arms into huge bestial claws, crushing and trapping him between her enlarged palms, only for Aoko to send salvo after salvo of Starmine and Starbow crashing into his immobile form.

When the dust settled, Hulk stood there still encased in hardened clay with several already healing bruises on his skin which included a black eye and many bowling ball-sized holes in the ground around him. He was silent for a time before he said **"Is this it, is this the best you can do? I'm not impressed."**

Green light then shone from the cracks in the hardened clay. They began to expand, as the power they were attempting to hold back became too much. With an annoyed grunt, the earth shattered sending shrapnel flying every which way by another pulse of green energy. Hulk then sheathed his gladius and grabbed Lancer's head with one hand, before squeezing, bursting her skull like a grape. Then, taking her now headless body, he bisected her, throwing he to opposite ends of the clearing.

He then turned to Aoko, before raising his fist thumb sticking out sideways for a moment before he turned it downwards. Signifying her doom.

Assassin and Saber tried to defend her, but Assassin for all her strength was still of the Assassin class, she wasn't meant to fight the likes of Berserker directly. And so it came to no surprise to Shirou when she was picked up by the Green King and used as a bludgeoning weapon against the still weakened and recovering Saber.

Even as he beat Assassin into Saber, bones snapping and blood flying he raged **"YOUR WEAK AND PATHETIC! I EXPECTED MORE! I EXPECTED BETTER FROM THE LEGENDARY ONCE AND FUTURE KING OF BRITAIN!"**

Then from out of left field fire rained from the heavens consuming Hulk in its blaze. He was then smacked in the face with an oversized mirror by an irate fox girl. And send flying ass over end and creating a trench as he slid across the ground.

"Caster where were you? Saber asked, not unkindly as she managed to force herself up, using her sword as a crutch.

Giving the blonde swordswoman a sour look, accompanying downturned fox-ears Caster replied "I was blown back into the tree's when you decided to see whose sword could shoot the biggest load."

Saber blushed heavily at the double entendre. Sputtering for a moment she replied "Caster! Now is not the time for that!"

Sparing the Servant of the Sword a sideways glance before focusing her gaze on Berserker who was now on his feet she said "Get your head out of the gutter and get out of my way Saber. Its up to me to save your butts now and I'm not sure I can do it without serious collateral damage."

Saber saw the grim, determined look on Casters face and nodded before picking up the broken, but healing Assassin "Right, good luck."

_'__Tamamo.'_ Shirou thought worriedly she squared off against a Servant that could fight off two others with little to no difficulty.

**"****Curse: Chaotic Heaven, Curse: Frigid Heaven!"** Caster intoned as Berserker charged her.

He was impeded by freezing gale force winds, shards of ice flew through the air, striking him and sticking to his skin turning it blue. His steps slowed as he lost feeling in his limbs and the ground beneath his feet became more and more frozen, clinging to him with every step. Finally, he stopped moving, seemingly frozen solid.

Caster then delivered her coup de grace **"Mantra: Bestial Sky, Curse: Firey Heaven!"**

Clouds then swiftly gathered spiraling and shifting together to form a savage grinning fox head in midair. The beast made of black clouds then opened its maw and let out a thunderous roar accompanied by unleashing an enormous pillar of flame directed at the frozen Berserker.

The attack struck dead on, shattering Berserker's icy prison and coating his form in flames.

When the attack ended, a smoldering crater remained, and so did Berserker, though he was worse for the wear. His armor was melted into slag, with his armor melted to his skin, his blade turned into so much-melted scrap on his back, his metal shoes had vanished, anchoring him to the ground. But if his armor was trashed, his flesh was even worse. Blackened and charred, with whole chunks completely missing and exposing bone and in some cases organs such as his still beating heart and working lungs. All was silent for one long tense moment as Caster looked at the still living Berserker in a sickened fascination, perhaps hoping his heart would suddenly stop of its own accord.

However, it was not to be, as Berserker let out a scream akin to a savagely wounded animal before his body surged with radioactive energy coating him in wrath filled power. Before Caster could say another spell, Berserker was upon her. Picking her up by her tail, her slammed her repeatedly into the ground before spinning her around his head and launching her into the trees. He then roared in anger and savage victory. He then set his sights on the still weakened Saber and healing Assassin, who, despite being ill prepared for it, were ready to give their all to protect Aoko.

They lasted all of five seconds. Hulk did a repeat performance from earlier except this time he used Saber as a living club instead of Assassin. When he was done thrashing one girl with another, he threw the two on top of each other and kicked them into the trees to join Caster and Lancer.

Finally, there was nothing standing between him and Aoko, yet the Fifth Magician had not fear on her face, but pity. Pity was etched upon her face for her would-be conqueror. Shirou could practically feel the Hulks hatred for that look through the globe, and it took Leysritt restraining him to preventing him from rushing to Aoko's side immediately.

He could only watch in abject horror as the Incredible Hulk picked his fiance up by her arms and legs, and the brought her down brutally and sharply on his knee snapping her spine like a twig. The sound of Aoko's blood-curdling scream made Shirou's heartache…

But moments later, it was replaced by something else…Rage.

Without a word, he reinforced himself as much as he could and stood easily overpowering Leysirett, much to the combat homunculi's surprise. In a command voice that was cold as ice and hard as steel, he asked, "Illya, is there any way you can calm Berserker down?"

O-Onii-chan…" Illya stuttered.

"Well?" he asked not having the time or the rationality to deal with her fear of him at the moment.

Only Illya wasn't looking too good, her face was about as red as her eyes. Shirou immediately became concerned, "Illya what's wrong?"

The fae-like girl shook her head and replied shakily "N-Nothing O-onii-chan, why do you ask?"

Turning to Sella he asked, "What's wrong with her."

The maid hesitated to respond, but upon seeing her mistresses condition she pressed on without preamble "She is suffering from prana deprivation. Due to Hulk's continued use of his Noble Phantasm Green Scar. It is an always active Noble Phantasm that increases his strength, endurance, and mana the angrier he becomes. His base Strength is only D+ with B rank Endurance and E rank Mana but as his rage grows so do those three stats. To the point that all three are immeasurable. Combine that with his prana burst skill and he could level the entire country in a few steps if this keeps up."

Shirou processed this in a matter of seconds, after which, he bit his thumb and started to draw a crude but functional formulcraft circle on the table they were surrounding. He then promptly laid Illya upon it saying "This formulcraft circle is meant to gather the ambient mana in the air and transfer it to whatever is in the circle. Leave her here for a bit and then go with my mom, Shiki, and Zeetha-san, and transport her back to my house. I have a much better-crafted formulcraft circle in my shed you can use."

Shirou then looked towards the door and called "Did you get that you two?"

Shiki, with mussed up hair and glowing blue eyes and a wolf-like smirk on his face, stepped into the room along with Zeetha, who had her two long Indian style blades on her back.

The warrior woman spoke first "Shirou, are you sure you can trust them they did kidnap you."

Shirou looked at Illya whose breathing had steadied slightly since he put her in the formulcraft circle, before looking back at the Skifandian Queen and replied "She's family. Now, get going."

**"****Wait. Just what are you going to be doing?"** Shiki asked in a deep almost menacing voice.

Me? I'm going to be putting a theory of mom's to the test." Shirou replied while going to a French window and throwing it open, before he began to think.

_'__Ok, my I need to think quickly no time to do really advanced calculations so I guess I'll need to improvise a little bit. Hmm, maybe if I just tweak my Tracing process a bit…'_

"That could work, let's give it a shot." He said more to himself than anyone else.

He stopped when he felt someones hand land on his shoulder. He turned to find his mother staring at him concernedly "Son, what are you about to do?"

Smiling at her from the madness place Shirou replied "Something only a Spark and Magus can do mom. I'm about to spit into the laws of physics."

He then took a steadying breath and said "Step one, determine the purpose."

_He knew what he wanted it to do._

Step two, create a mental blueprint."

_He could see what he wanted to happen in his mind's eye_.

"Step three, run mathematical equations."

_Determining trajectory eighteen point three meters above target and half a kilometer away, current movement speed: zero, current wind resistance: none, obstacles in the way of the flight path: Trees lots of them._

"Step four confirm workable theory."

_According to my calculations and kaa-sans, theory this should work._

"Step five, Define needed materials for creation."

_'__I need to manipulate ions, lots of them.'_

"Step six, determine necessary power output."

_'__I need to get there fast…To heck with it, fifty units of prana it is. I can work out actual proper measurements when the lives of people I care about aren't in danger.'_

"Seventh and final step, connect to from mental world to physical one of Gaia."

He then looked at his mother and said "Cross your fingers." Before saying. "Begin Construction."

The mental hammer in his head fell, instantly creating the magecraft he'd envisioned in his mind.

He took a step forward and everything in front of him seemed to stretch and blur all at once. He got the feeling that he was heading down a level in an elevator as his stomach felt as if it had pressure being asserted in it from the ground up.

Then, just as soon as it started, it stopped and Shirou found himself in the clearing that Berserker and the others were fighting in.

_'__Heh, I did it, it actually worked. I used Spatial Teleportation.'_ Shirou didn't have time to congradulate himself, as Berserker was only a few steps in front of him staring at him curiously.

Agatha could only stare in awe as her son took what she said about ions in passing, mad rambling really, and just used them to teleport himself between two points in an instant. _'Dear lord, if he can do this, what else is he capable of?'_

"Agatha, are you alright my Zumil?" Zeetha asked putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I-I'm fine Zeetha, just worried and awed at what my son is capable of." She replied. She then sighed before turning to the others and, clapping her hands together she said "Alright everyone, you heard Shirou, back to the Emiya Estate."

Looking to Sella the blonde spark asked "Do you have a car?"

"Illya brought your vehicle back to the manor with her, its in the garage." She replied neutrally.

Agatha nodded muttering "Convient." Under her breath before she said "Alright lead the way Sella. Do you think Illya will be alright till we make it to the estate?" she asked concernedly.

In response Sella put a hand to Illya's forehead checking her tempature. It had gone down considerably but once she was removed from the formulcraft circle, her condition would continue to worsen until they either got her to the Emiya Estate, or Berserker was killled or rendered unconscious.

'It's a risk, but one we'll have to take.' The homunculus thought before she motioned for the tense and worred Leysritt to pick up Illya and, turning to the others she said "Illya is strong she'll survive the journey."

As she made her way past Agatha, she stopped and placed a hand on her shoulder, saying "Your son too is strong, believe in him."

Agatha smiled at the usually stiff tacturn maid "Thank you, I needed to hear that."

"Not at all. Now, come along everyone, the longer we dilly dally, the worse Illya becomes."

Shiki, who was the last person out of the room, thought bitterly _'I didn't get to kill anything, what the hell?'_

Back in the clearing; Shirou and Berserker were staring each other down as if they were in an old western flick. Shirou could see Aoko's broken body in his peripheral vision and slowly without taking his eyes off of Berserker, he made his way over to her. Upon reaching her he gently turned her over onto her side so he could see her face. She was clearly in pain and her breathing was labored.

"Aoko," Shirou called calmly "Aoko-chan, can you hear me?"

Slowly, Aoko opened her pain filled eyes. "Shirou?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'm here. Everythings going to be ok." He told her.

"What are you doing here, we're supposed to be rescuing you." Aoko complained through the pain.

Raising an eyebrow, Shirou replied "Really well what happens when the rescuers need rescuing?"

Chuckling even though it hurt Aoko replied "I guess that's where you come in huh?"

Looking at berserker and the destruction he caused made shirous' eyes harden as he replied "Yeah. Aoko, wait here for me ok? I need to take the trash out."

"Don't worry, I wasn't planning on getting up anytime soon honey." She replied dryly.

"Right, sorry." He said embarrassed.

"You will be if you stay here. You need to run, now. Go on, hurry up. I'll be along in a minute hero." She said before a blue glow started to eminate from her body signifying she'd activated the Fifth Magic.

With that said, Shirou turned and again faced the incredable Hulk and was prepared to fight him to the death. He assumed the horse stance taught to him by soujurrou-nii, his legs bent, he kept his weight low to the ground, profile kept to the side, left arm extended in a fist, right arm bent and kept close to the body. This was the Straight Horse stance, also called the Bow Stance due to how the practioner held their arms, as if holding a bow taut.

A tension was in the air, just waiting for something to break it. Suddenly Rin and both of her Servants popped out of the brush. "E-Emiya-kun, what are you doing here?!"

Instead of answering, Shirou shunted prana into his legs and 'hopped' forwards covering the distance between himself and Berserker near instantly, turning his body, shifting his weight, pulling in his left arm and extending his right as he did so. The 'arrow' that was his right arm, had been launched.

It struck home right in Berserker's diaphram Shirou then spun around, slamming his elbow into the exact same spot in berserker's back, mincing both his lungs and heart in one move. But it didn't matter they regenerated immediantly after they were destroyed such was his wrath at this point. Hulk spun on his heel intending to backhand the third-rate magus, but something unexpected happened. Shirou's mystic eyes activated on accident.

In that moment, everything slowed and he saw the speed at which the arm was coming towards him, the tragectory at which the swing was arcing, and he knew not only how to avoid the hit but the most probable moves Berserker would make for the next hundered-twelve seconds.

_'__Mom said we had a form of hyper focus.'_ Shirou thought as rolled under the backhanded blow and delivered a low kick to the Green Behemoths achilies tendon causing him to stumble and take a knee.

_'__I can't keep this pace up for long, I've already burned through onehundred-fifty units of prana since the fight started. Need to end this fast.'_ He thought.

On the sidelines Rin was slackjawed "Archer, Spiderman, what am I looking at?"

"I-I honestly have no clue Rin." Archer replied honestly.

Spiderman however had his arms crossed over his chest and was watching the fight intently as he said "I know, we're watching a hero in the making."

"Tch, heroes are overated." Archer replied.

"Umm, you know you're a Heroic Spirit, right?" his fellow Archer asked.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Archer replied "Don't remind me."

"Oh wow look at that!" Rin said.

The that in question was shirou who had coated both his arms in legs in lightning as he continued to pummel Berserker.

_'__Note to self.'_ the red head thought _'Accelerating one's own bioelectric current while viable as a weapon is painful as hell to accomplish.'_ Even as he used his both of his electrified forarms and slammed them into the Hulks chest after avoiding being squished like a bug.

_'__Next he should try and do a haymaker on me, I should take a few steps back and then follow up with a sidewinder to the head.'_ He thought.

Sure enough, the closed fist came down, Shirou took a few steps back, thus avoiding being in the center of the crater that was made, and he did just that, throwing a punch that turned into an elbow strike to the side of berserker's skull.

This continued the next two minutes and shirou was beginning to tire.

_'__I have about a fourth of my prana left, need to end this quick.'_ He thought. _'I need a lightning rod or something.' _

Suddenly he was on that hill again dust covered hill again, next to the sheath and the spark, and from his vantage point on the hill, he saw it, the weapon that would end this fight.

Just as suddenly he was back in the fight, avoiding having his head popped like a grape in Hulks grip he used his most familiar skill.

"Trace on."

Judging the concept of creation.

Hypothesizing the basic structure.

Duplicating the composition material.

Imitating the skill of its making.

Sympathizing with the experience of its growth.

Reproducing the accumulated years.

Excelling every manufacturing process.

Projection completed, firing.

In a matter of seconds Gae Bolg crimson spear of Cu Chulaain was in his hands. Pumping prana into his legs he leapt into the air, shifting the spear into a throwing positing while filling it with prana. Shunting more prana to his arms he launched the spear. It broke into fifty bolts of crimson red light and death that rained down upon the Green King at mach two speed all at once. He tried to bat them away only to have his hands blow off the first two times he tried then the other forty-eight decended upon him, kicking up a mushroom cloud of dust.

When all was said and done, the incrediable Hulk laid spread eagled on the ground, bowling ball sized holes gouged all throughout his body. His chest was absolutely destroyed, mashed to a pulp, his arms were blown off at the shoulder, and his legs vaporized from the knee down. His head had a semicircular hole blown through it, completely consuming his his left eye and a chunk of his brain.

Shirou landed with a thump, huffing as he thought 'There, that should do him in. No Servant could survive that.'

"Shirou~!"

Shirou couldn't help but smile as he heard her voice. Turning he said "Aoko, I'm glad your-Ow!" he said as Aoko punched him in the head before she started breating him.

"I told you to run, just what did you think you were doing fighting him by yourself idiot! You could've died! Our fight would've been for nothing-" She pulled him into a hug before she began to tremble and continued in a quieter sobbing tone "I-I could have lost you, you idiot."

Gently wrapping his arms around her he said "Sorry, didn't mean to worry you Aoko-chan. Is your back feeling better now?"

Aoko sniffled a little before she replied "I know you didn't you never do, but I worry anyway. I'm fine now, but how are you holding up?"

Letting her go and stepping back Shirou replied "I'm at just under twenty percent of my full reserves."

She put a hand to his forehead in concern and said "Your burning up! We need to get you home so you can lay down. Hang on and I'll get the others up and moving." Aoko then turned to Rin and snapped "Tohsaka, make yourself useful and keep a hand on Shirou here so he doesn't fall over!"

"Y-Yes Aozaki-sama, right away!" Rin stuttered out before rushing to Shirou's side where he was already swaying on his feet.

"Sheesh, Emiya-kun, you don't know the meaning of doing things lightly do you?" she said as she propped him up on her shoulder.

"'Fraid not Rin. Hey Rin?" he said

"Yes Emiya-kun? The Tohsaka heiress asked distractedly as she watched Aozaki use the Fifth to revive the Servants of the fool she was holding onto… _'The fool I have a crush on.'_ She thought with a blush.

"You, have very pretty eyes."

"…Eh?!" She asked looking at him. Emiya's shirt was covered in sweat, his face was flushed, his eyes glazed over, and he looked like he was ready to keel over at any moment.

"I-I'm just going to ignore everything you say right now because your not feeling well Emiya-san."

"I also think its cute that you act all perfect and shit when really your loud, shrewd, stingy, and bossy."

"Yep, just going to ignore you." Rin told herself.

"I also thing you have a perfectionist and inferiority complex due to being a Tohsaka and the Second Owner of Fuyuki."

Rin's eyebrow twitched that was waay too close to home "As much as I would love to know how you know that, I'm going to chalk it up to dumb luck and let it slide.

"I also think you have a complex when it comes to your small chest. But you make up for it by wearing scandalously short skirts, thus distracting men from said small chest, and possibly getting off on the fact that men are also looking at you wearing said skirt. In other words you're an Exibitionist."

_'__How, how did he know…HE MUST DIE!'_ Rin thought before screeching "That's it, your dead you son of a-"Rin began only to have her hand grabbed by a smiling Saber who was surrounded Shirou's other Servants.

"I think its time we left." She said simply before she took ahold of shirou and, placing him in a firemans carry on her shoulder, walked out of the clearing, with eveyone else soon following after...

A half an hour after the others left the clearing a noise that should not have been was heard. It was the s

Bump-bump, bump-bump, bump-bump…

It was the sound of a beating heart…

**Chapter Length: 17,222 – Date Completed: 1/31/15**

AN: Hello ladies and gents I apologise for the late update, but I caught a cold and was laid up until recently. Humble apologies for my tardiness. That said, how's THIS for a chapter? You get not one, not two, but THREE fight scenes totaling nearly 7k words total. And now, to top it all off I'm giving you a Servant Stat Double Feature Starting with Spiderman

**Servant: Archer**

**Identity: Spiderman**

**Secondary Classes: Berserker**

**Parameters**

**Strength: C (C+, A++) Mana: C (EX)**

**Endurance: C (C+) Luck: C (C+)**

**Agility: A+ (A++) NP: A**

**Class skills:**

**Independent Action: B**

**Personal skills:**

**Instinct: (A+): Has a limited form of precognition due to spider-sense.**

**Projectiles: [Impact webbing] (B): Can fire globs of impact webbing at bullet level speeds**

**Martial Arts: [Way of the Spider] (A+++): a style of kung-fu created by Spiderman with the help of Iron Fist after he lost his Spider Sense as the progenitor of this style, he is the master of its use, and became even better with it after he regained his lost spider-sense.**

**Tantra and Chaos: (EX): Spidey can increase his mana reserves by either killing people or having sex, he can then use these stored energies in a form of prana burst and enhance his abilities by (+) for a time.**

**NP:**

**Mark of Kaine (C): a move that depending on where it is used determines the effect it has: If used on the face it causes Blindness until healed, if used on the arms: causes rank down to Strength, if used on legs causes rank down to Agility. Rank of this NP increases as Spiderman's strength stat increases.**

**Spider Talons (B): By either utilizing the chaotic energies he's collected in his body, or being around someone of the Chaotic Evil or who is Mad Enhanced, Spidey can unleash pincer-like talons from his wrists which can inject a foe with lethal poison, capable of harming a servant and breaking apart the prana particles that form their bodies. If used on Master, it will directly affect their Magic Circuits, rotting and destroying them. Can also be used as arrows in a webbing forged bow.**

**? (?)**

**Enhanced Genetics (C): Spidey can temporarily raise all of his attributes by one rank for one battle per day, as he is no longer 'pulling his punches' like he is used to.**

**? (?)**

**Next Hulk Himself**

**Servant: Berserker**

**Identity: Incredible Hulk/Bruce Banner**

**Secondary Classes: Caster (As Bruce Banner)**

**Parameters:**

**Strength: D+ (EX) Mana: E (D, EX)**

**Endurance: B (A, EX) Luck: E (D)**

**Agility: C (B) NP: EX**

**Class Skills:**

**Mad Enhancement: EX**

**Personal skills:**

**Monstrous Strength: (A): Enraged to the point of being more beast than man, the angrier Hulk becomes the higher his Strength stat rises.**

**Natural Body: (A): The Hulks body is the epitome of power, and Hulk doesn't require food, water, or air, and is extremely hard to injure due to his Gamma enhanced physiology.**

**The Honor of the Battered: (A): Wounds can be healed at one-eighth their cost.**

**Prana Burst (Gamma Rays): A**

**NP: Green Scar: Breaker of Worlds (EX) Anti-world (Self): An 'Always on' Noble Phantasm. The angrier Hulk becomes, the higher his Strength, Endurance, and most importantly Mana rank increases, to the point where the Hulk emits dangerous and lethal levels of gamma radiation and becomes a walking nuclear payload capable of annihilating all life on the planet.**

**In closing, please review, as writing chapters that are 10k much less almost twenty is no easy task and every review encourages me to push on to newer and greater heights. Till next chap everyone, Bubbajack out! Peace!**

**Addendum #1: The steel element really IS connected to the sense of smell in Chinese medicine so whoever started the whole 'Shirou's a Bloodhound' thing that is often seen in fics is actually correct in that he would detect magic through smell.**

**Addendum #2: Always found it odd that Akiha just suddenly found out that Hisui was being used as jail bate one day, so I decided to use that oddity to my advantage as to why Shirou is so close to the Tono girls.**

**Addendum #3: Please bare in mind before you flame me that my version of Shirou has 241 total magic circuits a total prana capacity of 1340 units of prana, an Origin of Manufacture and dual elements of Lightning and Steel. Plus he was trained by Alice, Soujūrou, Aoko, and Ceil for YEARS even though he couldn't grasp most of what they were trying to teach him. So, he'll be pulling off even crazier shit in the future...just wait and see...**


	8. Chapter 8

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller/Grammarly**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Girl Genius, or anything else that may appear in this fic.**

**Ch.8: Cranking it up a notch.**

"_Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration,"-Thomas Alva Edison_

* * *

Shirou's eyes slowly opened. He felt groggy, dizzy and almost uncomfortably warm all at the same time turning his head to the left and then the right, he found he was in his room laying on his futon. His body stiffened and he suppressed a yelp of surprise when he noticed he wasn't in his futon alone. Lying next to him under the covers, his right arm nestled into her bust, was Caster.

She was awake and staring at him intently with her amber eyes. Shirou didn't know why, but he sensed mild hostility in her gaze.

"You're awake." She said coolly before asking in the same aloof tone "Would you like some water?"

It was then that Shirou noticed how dry and scratchy his throat felt so he nodded. Caster promptly got out from under the sheets. Revealing her was wearing nothing more than a pair of his boxers and her bust was wrapped in bandages; causing Shirou to hastily avert his gaze with a blush on his face.

Shirou heard the sound of water being poured into a glass and saw out of the corner of his eyes Caster making him a drink using a pitcher of water that had been placed on his dresser. Even though he tried not to, he couldn't help but take in her form. She had long slender legs, skin the color of moonlight and if he had to guess a bust slightly smaller than Aoko's. Her tail was poking from a hole in his boxers rendering them useless to him now.

Suddenly, she turned back to him and practically shoved the cup of water into his face. He blinked at it for a moment before accepting it with a nod in Casters direction, one she stiffly returned. He took small sips, parching the desert that was his mouth and throat. After he had been done, he decided to see what was bothering his Servant.

Clearing his throat, he asked, "Misukume, is something wrong?"

This earned him a full sharp glare as her voice practically oozed venomous sarcasm "Wrong, Master? Why would anything be wrong? I mean, it's not like we've been worried sick about you; due to the fact you've been out with a fever for the past two days. Or because of overexertion of your magic circuits and near prana depletion, right?"

Caster's voice rose as her rant continued, "I mean, you wouldn't have been doing anything outrageously stupid, like fighting a Servant that managed to defeat not just all four of your Servants. But your fiancé, a Magician, as well, right?"

"Well, when you put it like that-"Shirou was cut off as the fox-tailed Servant continued, all but yelling now.

"AND, IF YOU WERE TO DO SOMETHING SO STUPID I AS WELL AS EVERYONE ELSE WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO KNOW JUST WHAT IN THE HELLS YOU WERE THINKING!"

As she huffed to catch her breath, Shirou calmly asked "Are you finished, do you feel better now?"

In response she just silently narrowed her eyes at him which prompted him to continue "I fought Hulk because you were all in danger."

He held up a hand when he saw her about to protest and continued. "How could I call myself your Master, let alone your ally, or your friend if I sat back and did nothing while you all got slaughtered by that monster while trying to rescue me?"

"Shirou." Caster said her voice softening considerably.

Shirou shook his head and continued "I honestly wasn't really thinking about myself when I rushed in like that. If I were, I would've known that a Servant that could beat a physical facet of Amaterasu and one of Japan's three Great Monsters was out of my league."

Caster took a sharp breath "H-How do you know about that?"

"The dream cycle, it told me about your life, from the very beginning to the end." He replied

He looked at her then and smiled and bowed slightly in her direction, saying, "I have to say, I'm both honored and humbled to be chosen as a Master of both a facet of Shinto's chief deity, but also one of its most feared Monsters."

"Y-you don't need to do that!" she said frantically while waving her arms around "Both Amaterasu and I are two different people in a sense. So even if I were to gain deific status I wouldn't become her, but my own deity."

"So, you're like her offspring?" Shirou questioned.

Sighing Tamamo replied "In a sense I suppose I am. How long have you known my identity?" She asked.

"The morning I was kidnaped by Illya."

Slowly, Tamamo nodded saying "I see."

She then reached over and bobbed him on the head.

"Ow," The Magus grunted while rubbing the spot "Dare I ask what that was for?"

Narrowing her amber eyes at him, she replied "_**That**_ was for fighting a Servant that even I couldn't beat even after you knew my identity! If I couldn't beat him with the help of three other legendary heroes plus a Magician, what hope did you think you had?!" She asked while crossing her arms over her chest, ears flat, as tail swishing from side to side as she waited for his response.

"I already told you, I wasn't thinking about my safety but about keeping you and the others safe. I don't like the idea of others dying for my sake. Besides I beat him so it's fine, right?" He told her placatingly.

Caster sighed in defeat. _'It's true, I can't argue with the end result.'_ She thought.

"I suppose." She grumbled still not liking the idea of her would-be husband in danger.

She was surprised for a moment when she felt Shirou's hand on her head rubbing her right between her ears.

"Don't worry, I'm alright I'm not going anywhere and I have no intention of abandoning you." He told her solemnly.

Her head snapped up in shock at that, he'd seen and understood more than she realized.

"I'll show you that not all humans fear what they don't understand. Just trust me ok?" he asked.

Trust, that's all he was asking of her. Something she could easily and freely give to him considering their current circumstances of Servant and Master.

Nodding she said quietly "Ok, I'll trust you if you trust me to protect you."

Shirou didn't hesitate in his response "I already do trust you to keep me safe. But, trust is a two-way street. Do you trust me to keep you safe should you need it?" he questioned.

"Thank you for trusting me, Shirou-kun, and yes, yes I do."

Smiling Shirou nodded, replying "Your welcome, and thank you."

The magus then clapped his hands together and said "How about some breakfast?"

Caster blinked and said "Breakfast? Shirou, its mid afternoon on Tuesday did you forget I said you've been out for two whole days with a fever?"

Shirou's eyes widened in shock _'No wonder I'm so hungry! I haven't eaten in days…wait…'_

"How's Illya, is she alright?" he asked concernedly.

Smiling mischievously Caster replied "Hmm, why don't we go see, ne?"

Shirou quickly nodded and got up noticing he was wearing his pajamas he turned to Caster with a quirky eyebrow, his question evident, and unasked.

"Aoko-san changed you into something she thought you would be more comfortable in, your mother helped."

Shirou blushed slightly upon hearing that his fiancé and mother that he hardly knew changed his clothes while he was unconscious more so because of his mother than Aoko, as he'd already seen her naked. But it would've been awkward for his mother to see him like that.

As if sensing his thoughts Tamamo replied "Don't worry, they didn't take off your underwear. Speaking of that, why don't you go take a quick bath, wipe the grime off?"

Shirou hated to admit it, but he was smelling a tad ripe. Grimacing he nodded and replied "Good idea Mea-san."

The fox-eared Servant tutted at her Master waving a finger in his face, saying, "No, no. You summoned me, fed me, I told you my human name and nearly died saving you only to get saved by you. So you'd better call me by my first name got it?!"

Shirou nodded holding his hands up defensively as if to ward off her feminine wrath. "Yes, yes, I understand Tamamo-san. Please forgive me."

Giving him a halfhearted sideways glare she replied "That will do for now I suppose, but we'll have to work on the 'san' bit. I prefer 'chan' or 'iro' myself."

She giggled upon seeing him blush for a moment, then made shooing motions and said "Go take your bath, I'll let the others know you're awake."

"R-Right." He said grabbing a new set of boxers from his drawer along with a copy of his usual outfit before he sprinted towards the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind him.

After he was gone Tamamo burst into a fit of giggles thinking _'Master is so innocent, it's adorable. Even I wasn't that shy growing up.'_

She sighed, already missing his presence and the warmth he gave off. She had given herself a shake before she snapped her fingers. Instantaneously clothing herself in the casual outfit Shirou said suited her so well days before. She then made her way into the living room where Alice, Aoko, Ciel, Akiha, and Agatha-san sat at the table, currently sipping cups of tea being prepared by the twin Tohno maids.

Taking a seat at the table and pouring herself a cup of green tea, she took a sip before she said "Shirou's awake."

The effect was as immediate as it was hilarious in Casters opinion. Aoko and Agatha choked on the sip of tea they had just taken, Ceil did a spit-take on Akiha-san, and Kohaku tripped and ended up groping her more reserved sister in an attempt to keep her balance. Alice actually raised both eyebrows and blinked like an owl for a moment.

Caster cackled semi-evilly at the chaos she created, even more so when the cross Tohno heiress accepted the dishtowel from her blushing if stoic maid. _'I should've taken pictures. That was priceless blackmail material._' She thought.

Suddenly, Agatha was leaning across the table, inches from her face, and firing off questions moments later. "Is he coherent? Has his fever broken? How's his appetite? Is he capable of moving on his own?"

Clearing her throat, Caster replied "Yes, he's coherent. His fever has broken andconsidering he hasn't eaten in a couple of days he's probably starving, and he's taking a bath right now, so he's capable of moving."

Satisfied, Agatha sat back and let out a relieved sigh "Thank goodness, he's ok."

She then looked at the pink-haired fox girl apologetically, saying, "Sorry about that, I-"

She was cut off by Tamamo, who said "You were worried about the son you haven't seen since he was seven. I understand."

Tamamo then took a gulp of tea before she added "He's also concerned about Illya's condition."

This earned a groan from Aoko, who ground out "Of course he is, he nearly cooks himself alive and he's worried about someone else."

"You act like it's a bad thing I'm worried about my sister Aoko-chan."

Everyone turned to see Shirou stepping into the living room fully clothed in his usual attire of blue jeans white and blue long-sleeved shirt, and as is customary for walking around in a Japanese home, slippers on his feet.

Agatha immediately got up and embraced her son "You had me worried there, for a minute sweetheart. Are you feeling better now?"

Shirou rubbed the back of his head, unused to being shown so much concern for his wellbeing.

'_Still, I probably shouldn't worry her so much.'_ He had thought self-deprecatingly before he gave her a light hug, returning her embrace and saying "I'm fine mom, sorry for making you worry."

"That's fine…but what does chan mean?" she asked.

Shirou was caught off guard by the sudden question but managed to answer "Well, in the Japanese language; it's commonplace to add suffixes to the end of a person's name, based on how familiar you are with a person. For instance; someone you're not particularly close to would not only be called by their last name but would also be called 'san.' While someone you know better could be called by their first name along with the 'san' suffix."

"But you called Aoko by her first name and 'chan' was it?" Agatha gave her son a heartwarming smile as she continued "Am I to assume that 'chan' is only used for people you feel particularly close and or affectionate towards?"

Shirou was now doing his best, not to blush in embarrassment. He spared Aoko a glance, thinking he'd see her smirking at him, and much to his surprise, she was also blushing and looking at him from under her crimson bangs in a shy girlish manner. Waiting for him to answer…

'_This…this means a lot to her doesn't it? To hear me actually say that I, that __**we**__ are close.' _Shirou thought.

He smiled at her for a moment before he turned to his mother and stated clearly "Yes, yes it does."

The smile he received from Aoko that practically lit up the room, let him know that he'd done the right thing. Suddenly a massive deep growl was heard, and for a moment, Shirou thought it was the call of a phantasmal beast. He was quickly proven wrong, however, when the sound came again, accompanied by hunger pangs.

'_Well, in my defense, I haven't eaten in a couple of days.'_ Shirou reasoned with himself even as he rubbed his head in embarrassment.

"Sorry." He apologized.

Akiha shook her head saying "Don't be, you've been asleep for days. This is only a natural reaction." She then narrowed her icy blue eyes slightly and chastised "Of course, you wouldn't have been out of it at all had you not been so reckless. Taking on a Heroic Spirit, and Berserker no less, honestly." She huffed.

There was a shift in the tone in the room. It swiftly went from one of a relaxed concern to attaining an air of one who was about to be scolded, and Shirou had an excellent idea who it was that was to receive the scolding...

"What you did-" Alice began, locking eyes with him; showing her obvious displeasure, concern, and anger at his recklessness all in a look before she continued "-Was probably the most utterly stupid, asinine, reckless, ill thought out, thing anyone; Magus or no, has ever done."

Shirou winced at every remark that fell from his adoptive elder sisters lips. In a way, he knew she was absolutely right. What he did two days ago was insane, to fight a Servant, any Servant; one on one was madness…but it was also a miracle. A miracle, because not only did he fight against a Servant, Servant Berserker no less, but he won.

"But, I've never been more proud of you."

Upon hearing this, Shirou's head snapped up to see Alice openly smiling at him. "You fought one of the most, if not the most powerful Servant in this War for the sake of protecting people who were in danger. I have no doubt that, had he survived Hulk would've gone on to destroy not only Aoko and the others but also Fuyuki and possibly the world."

"You think so?"

Alice inclined her head in acknowledgment saying "While you were sleeping I surveyed the area you fought in. It was completely decimated by radiation. Nothing will ever grow there again. From what I gather, had he lived he would've likely killed everything nearby simply by existing."

'_I actually did it, I actually managed to be a hero. Everyone's safe, for the moment, anyway.'_ Shirou thought.

The sudden firmness that entered Alice's voice when she continued, however, cut Shirou's mental celebration short. "I believe we have been going too easy on you during your training these past few years. Apparently, if you can defeat a Servant, we haven't been pushing you hard enough. After you have brunch with Illya your training should begin in earnest to rectify this oversight, don't you agree Shirou-kun?"

A shiver raced down Shirou's spine. He had a feeling that Alice both meant well, and intended to punish him for being rash earlier. However, he didn't complain. Knowing Alice was only doing this out of concern for his well-being. Thus, he just smiled and nodded saying "That's fine Alice-nee, and I agree. I think we can step my training up a notch now that my headaches are no longer a problem."

Alice nodded curtly once before making a shooing motion towards his kitchen "Go on and make some sandwiches for yourself and Illya-chan. She's been confined to your shed for the past few days by Sella and Leysirett-san much to her displeasure. Also, Herkules needs your permission to enter the bounded field Caster set up."

"Right, give me about an hour and a half and I'll be back here ready for tort-I mean training. I promise." The magus swore as he made his way into the kitchen.

Aoko looked at the others and said "I'm surprised Shirou didn't make a big deal about his new looks. I guess we have you to thank for that Caster?"

The vulpine girl shook her head and replied "Nope, I didn't mention it."

This caught everyone else by surprise "You didn't but then, why hasn't he freaked out yet?"

Caster shrugged "I dunno, maybe he hasn't looked into a mirror yet?"

The magician thought it over for a moment before dismissing the thought.

'_Shirou is a morning person, there is no way he wouldn't be _he was cut off by a scream of shock coming from the kitchen –'_Then again there is a first time for everything.'_ She finished dryly before she got up and rushed into the kitchen.

Standing there in the middle of the kitchen staring into his chrome plated toaster, was Shirou. His hair now flecked with strands of white amongst his auburn hair, and his skin a couple shades darker than it was two days previously. As if he'd just return from a vacation from the tropics with a light tan.

"W-What, what the hell?" he asked more to himself than anyone else.

He spun on his heel when he heard someone approach. I was Aoko, she looked like she was trying to console him as she said "It happened while you were asleep. Your hair started to turn white your, skin darkened, and you grew five centimeters."

Shirou stepped closer to Aoko for a height comparison and was surprised to find he was even in height with her now before he was only up to her chin in height. To say Shirou was freaked out by these sudden abrupt changes was an understatement.

"I-Uh, does anyone have any idea how this happened?" Shirou asked.

Aoko nodded "We do actually. You've been solely using Material Transmutation magecraft for years. While most magi barely give it a second thought, you excelled in its use. The reason you haven't seen any changes until now was due to the same reason you hadn't been able to learn any more advanced forms of magecraft."

Comprehension dawned in Shirous' eyes as he muttered "The locket?"

Aoko nodded "The very same. Ciel, Alice, and myself kicked around as many theories as we could with your mother. The best we could assume is that the locket was preventing the constant use of Projection and Reinforcement from showing physical symptoms in some way. According to your mother, the Locket was supposed to not only inhibit your thought process but also prevent you from being possessed."

This was news to Shirou "Possessed, by what?"

"By your grandmother and my mother, Lucretia Mongfish Heterodyne. Also known as the Other." Agatha replied smoothly from the kitchen entrance.

This caught Shirou's attention immediately. He looked intently at his mother and asked "What's this about Grandmother being an Other?"

Agatha shook her head and corrected her son "Not, _an_ Other, _the_ Other. The Other was the instigator of the Other War. A conflict that took place forty-one years ago back home, starting with the assault on our ancestral home of Castle Heterodyne. In which, my mother Lucretia was 'kidnaped' by the Other, my infant brother Barry killed, and several hundred lives were lost. After that night, an all-out assault began on Sparky families. Fingers were pointed at one group only to have them targeted and destroyed days later. Eventually, this mysterious entity was only known as the Other. Finally, I learned from my mothers extradimensional servants, the Geisterdamen, an all-female race of pale-skinned, haired and eyed beings, that she was the Other, the mortal incarnation of their goddess. I also learned that I was the so-called 'Holy Child' the next vessel for the Other's consciousness which had taken the form of my mother."

"So, this Other, it assimilates the personalities of its hosts?" Shirou asked.

"I believe so, yes. Eventually, I was put in a machine and Lucretia's personality was able to usurp my own and take over my body for a time. Until she was tricked into putting on a locket which suppressed her and put me back in control." She explained.

"You're not wearing a locket right now." Shirou pointed out, tensing slightly.

Agatha looked down at her chest then glanced up "I'm not, that's true, and when I was teleported here with Zeetha all our clothing my locket included was disintegrated upon reformation in this universe. I hypothetically should've been possessed by my mother the moment the locket was removed."

Shirou looked at his mother for a time before relaxing and asking "Do you have any idea why Lucretia hasn't been able to possess you?"

Agatha took a deep breath and slowly letting it out. Bracing herself for something before she replied, "I have only two logical explanations.' One, my mental defenses have grown strong enough over time to suppress her without the need of the locket…"

"Or..?" Shirou pressed.

Sighing again she finished "Or I am no longer her host and her psyche have passed onto you as you are my child."

Shirou silently processed this little tidbit of information for a moment before he said "That's the other reason you put the locket on me isn't it? You thought me possibly breaking through to the madness place at such a young age was a sign of your mother possessing me."

Agatha looked away ashamed before she said in barely in a whisper, "Yes, I was afraid not only was my mom attempting to possess you. But I was concerned she was going to drive you mad in the process of stealing your body for herself. I hope-"

She hiccupped then before looking at her son through blurry tear-filled eyes and finishing-"I hope you can forgive me for not only lying to you, but also impeding your magical education eventually."

She then tried to leave the room, not wanting to her son berate her, only for her wrist to be grabbed by said son. She fearfully looked into his eyes, only to see acceptance as well as forgiveness in them before he pulled her into a hug.

"You worry too much mom. I'm not mad. Do I wish you'd mentioned this Other thing earlier? Yes; but, considering everything that's been going on recently. At least since you've arrived, plus, all the adjusting you've had to do since you got here, I can't fault you for, not bringing it up."

Shirou's stomach then loudly protested the fact that he had still not eaten. This caused them both to pull apart, look down at the offending organ for a moment, before looking back at each other and bursting out laughing at how the moment was suddenly ruined.

"Want some help with brunch?" Agatha offered.

Shirou thought about it for a moment before he shook his head and said "No, I'm just going to do something simple. Grilled cheese and scrambled egg sandwiches I think."

Agatha perked up at that "That sounds rather appetizing actually."

"I'll make enough for everyone," Shirou had said before he started getting to work mentally calculating just how many sandwiches he would need to satisfy everyone who was staying with him at the moment…

* * *

While Shirou was thoroughly distracted by being in his secondary element, Aoko decided to get to the bottom of something. Something that prompted her visit to Fuyuki in the place, before she found out a Grail War was going on anyway.

For some reason, she now had two red strings of fate attached to her. That should not be possible as she was contracted to marry Shirou and yet, out of the blue, she suddenly woke up to find she had another red string of fate attached to herself. This one too; led to Fuyuki City. She needed to make sense of this and figure out just who or what was trying to harm her or worse, her Shirou.

She found a semblance of an answer night they went to rescue Shirou. For some reason, the secondary connection led to Rin's Archer, the one who hated Shirou for some reason. The reason she could possibly be connected to such a cold, callous man confused her until she watched Shirou slowly begin to change over the past few days.

'_Now, now I think I have my answer, I just need him to verify it as fact.'_ Aoko thought as she prowled the halls of the Emiya Estate looking for a pigtailed Magus.

She found her after knock on the door she'd been staying in since she moved into the Estate. Upon being told she could enter, Aoko slid the door aside and made her way into the room. The white vine bedspread was neatly tucked into the western-style bed, two mortar and pestles sat on a small white desk in front of various colored vials, and test tubes. On the wall above the desk were several charts seemingly about the stats of the Servants in this War. Off to one side was a large leather-bound tome with several sticky notes sticking out from its pages. With several others like it laying in a stack next to the desk. A dark red duffle bag and suitcase were placed neatly at the end of the bed.

Upon seeing who'd come into her room, Rin promptly stood up and said hastily "Aozaki-sama, what can I do for you?"

Chuckling, Aoko replied "How many times must I ask you to just call me Aoko, Rin?"

"Right," Rin said deflating a little before she proposed in a much more normal tone "What can I do for you? And how's Emiya-kun, is he awake yet?"

"Emiya-_kun_, Rin? Aoko teased causing the prideful girl to sputter incoherently and blush.

"It's not that-I mean…It's like…he, he's a really good person! Rin finally got out. "He saves me, takes me in, stops me from wiping the minds of my closest school friends, tramples all over the laws of secrecy just so they can make an informed decision, and then protects us all when we come to save him from being kidnaped. I don't mean anything rude by this, but he's too good for the world of magi."

Aoko understood exactly what the Tohsaka heiress was saying, and she agreed with her wholeheartedly. Shirou was too kind, too willing to help others if they were in need. In the world of magi, that would make him an easily manipulated pawn at best or expendable cannon fodder at worst. She had no intention of him becoming either, however. It simply wasn't time for him to learn about cloak and dagger politics. Not yet, anyway.

"Shirou's awake, the first thing he did after taking a shower was start cooking," Aoko told her.

Rin smirked happily "That sounds like Emiya-kun alright. Well, if he's well enough to cook, he must be doing ok."

Aoko nodded agreeing with the younger woman's statement "Yeah, that's about right…Rin, the reason I came by was because I needed to talk to Archer."

"You rang?" Spiderman asked jokingly materializing beside his Master.

Smiling and giving him a wave, Aoko replied "Not that it's not good to see you Webs, but I was talking about your talk, dark, and possibly emo counterpart."

"I would prefer to be called cynically jaded over emo thank you very much," Archer said upon his materialization with his arms crossed over his chest as he coolly eyed the Fifth Magician.

The two seemed to be studying one another intently. Rin was very curious to know what was going on, but didn't dare interrupt. Finally, Aoko broke their stare off when she said "I know who you are, you're a future version of Shirou, aren't you?"

The silence that descended upon the room was deafening. Rin had looked at her Servant and the Magician in shock before she said "She's joking right Archer? Your joking, right Aoko-sama?"

Not taking her eyes from the Servant she replied calmly "As you know Rin, Shirou is my fiancé. This came about due to us accidentally entering into the Japanese equivalent of a geas contract, which stated I would marry him when he was older."

"Japan has its own form of geas contract? Rin asked.

Aoko's eyes flicked to Rin's for a moment before she nodded and replied "Yes are you familiar with the concept of the red string of fate and Yue Lao? That myth was based on of Japanese geas contracts, in which one party would use their hair as a binding agent for the contract. Eventually, it fell out of use with the westernization of Japan and introduction of Irish geas scrolls."

Rin knew she shouldn't, but she just couldn't help herself. She burst out laughing after Aoko finished her tale. "You mean…to tell me…that you became…engaged to Emiya…entirely on accident?!" She got out between gaffes.

"Yes, and it also explains how I know who your Archer is. As, Shirou and I have a red line connecting the two of us. Yet, a little under a week ago now a secondary line appeared connecting me to someone else. That's the primary reason I came here until I found out the Grail War had started fifty years too early. That secondary line connects to your Archer…"

Rin suddenly stopped laughing as the implications of what the Fifth Magician had just said sunk in. She then fixed her Servant with a hard if curious glare and asked "Well, is what she saying right Archer? Are you Emiya-kun from the future?"

Sighing, the red and black clad Servant of the Bow replied "I wish I could tell you Rin, but due to someone mucking up my summoning, I'm afraid I can't quite recall my past."

"Stop trying to deny it!" Aoko snapped. "Shirou's hair is already streaked with white, his skin is darkening, and he's gained five centimeters in height over the past two days alone! Give him a few more days, and we'll be looking at a physical carbon copy of you. Which begs the question-Why do you hate yourself so damn much?"

Usually, Aoko was a calm amicable person who loved and respected all life. However, the person currently in front of her was quite possibly the future version of her husband-to-be. He was jaded, cynical, and seemed to have lost that loving helpful nature he always possessed. She wanted to know what could've caused such a drastic change in his demeanor and if there was anything she could do to prevent her Shirou from ending up like this.

Archer closed his eyes and sighed before he opened them and said "You really do love the idiot don't you?"

Aoko nodded fiercely and replied quietly "Yes, I really do."

"Then that could well be what saves him from making the same mistake I made," Archer had replied bitterly before he continued "I followed my father's ideals to the very end. To save everyone I could. At one point, I made a deal with Alaya to revive eighty-eight people who died right in front of me. In return, one of the people I brought back through that miracle had me framed for starting the war I was fighting to protect people from in the first place."

He stopped seemingly to steel himself for what was to come. After a moment or two he finally continued "I died and with no regrets…but then, the real hell began. For instead of being able to save more people like I thought I would after becoming a Counter Guardian, I was forced to slaughter them whenever humanity as a whole was in imminent danger. I was compelled to betray my ideals over and over again."

"Archer," Rin said sadly feeling empathetic for her embittered Servant.

"Dude, that's, that's some fucked up shit. And I've seen some fucked up shit." Spiderman said after a moment.

"Welcome to the real world Web-head, where it's ten thousand times worse than any comic book writer could ever think up," Archer replied drolly.

Suddenly Aoko narrowed her eyes at Archer and said "What are you planning?"

The silver-eyed servant blinked caught off guard, before he asked hesitantly "What do you mean?"

"If it's truly as bad as you say it is a Counter Guardian, then you'd be looking for a way out. The only possible way you could get out of being a Counter Guardian was if you never became one to begin with. But the only way that could happen is if a large enough paradox, like the future version of Shirou Emiya killing the past version of Shirou Emiya took place."

"How in the hell-?" Archer began only for Aoko to scoff and say "Fifth Magician remember? Dealing with time paradoxes is kind of my thing."

Rin was suddenly in her Servant's face…well, more like his chest considering he was almost a foot taller than her. Looking up into his eyes she asked, "Is this true?"

"Rin I-"She slashed her arm through the air silencing him before her command seals glowed a threatening red and she said "Do not make me use a Command Seal to cut through your bullshit! Just answer the question. Is. It. Right?!"

"Had, I been summoned into the proper Grail War? Yes, that's exactly what I would've done." The Servant of the Bow replied.

"And it would've ended incredibly poorly had you succeeded."

Everyone's head's snapped to the door to find Agatha standing there glaring at Archer heatedly.

"Agatha-san, how long have you been standing there? I thought you were helping Shirou with breakfast?" Aoko asked nervously.

Agatha stalked into the room her eyes never leaving Archer's as she replied "So I was, but I sent him on his way to Illya, and decided to tell you and Rin that brunch was ready."

How much did you overhear?" Rin asked.

"Enough," Agatha replied before she slapped Archer across the face and began berating him "You stupid fool! Do you have any idea what would happen should you actually succeed in killing yourself?"

"I would've ceased to exist due to a paradox, or so I hope," Archer replied ignoring the stinging in his cheek.

Resisting the urge to slap him again the Major Spark instead poked him in his armored chest and said "Yes, but do you know what killing your younger self would also cause besides a paradox?"

Seeing everyone's confusion Agatha groaned and said "For people who study the 'science of magic' I do not see a lot of scientific minds present at the moment. In fact, I'm half inclined to grill you all on theoretical physics'…anyway if you killed your younger self, which would not only cause a paradox but would also cause a singularity!"

Still seeing they didn't understand Agatha threw her hands up in frustration and shouted "A singularity is the heart of both black and white holes! If Archer had in fact succeeded he would've not only destroyed himself, but the entire planet and everyone on it, if not the whole solar system!"

Everyone especially Archer himself paled at the implications of his possible actions. _'So I'm damned no matter what I do? Tch, just my luck.'_ He thought bitterly.

Then, another thought occurred to the embittered hero and asked the Spark "Why do you even care? I'm not going to kill your Shirou if that's what you're worried about. He's clearly not the past version of me I'd need to kill, not that I would now, not that I know the consequences."

In response, Agatha reached up and ruffled Archer's hair before saying "Just because you're not my Shirou, doesn't mean I won't worry. It's a mother's job to worry about her children, after all." She said giving him a heartwarming smile before saying "Now come on, we should get to the kitchen while there is still some lunch to be had."

Archer was touched. This woman had no reason to care about him, he never knew her in his life or Aoko and the others for that matter. But besides all that, she chose to accept him as her son regardless. Silently Archer made a resolution then. Even though he was Rin's Servant, he would protect this woman, this Agatha Heterodyne, with his life.

"We'll be right there Agatha-san, go right ahead," Rin said to the blonde. She then turned to Spiderman and said "Go save us a plate or two will you?"

Sensing she wanted to be alone with her other Servant, the Wallcrawler nodded and dematerialized.

After the other's had left the room, Archer attempted to speak but was cut off by Rin who had raised her arm which had the command seals attached to them and intoned **"By the power of this command Seal, I order you, Archer Emiya Shirou, not only to not harm your younger self, but help him any way you can. I also order you to protect Agatha Heterodyne with your very life if need be."**

Archer had half a mind to fight the Command Seals' effect on his person, but after finding out what would've happened had he succeeded and his current vow to already protect Agatha who had just more or less adopted him just moments ago, he settled with mocking his old friend turned Master.

"You know you just wasted a Command Seal ordering me to do something I would've done anyway right?"

"Not really, I'm considering this more or less insurance on my part," Rin replied promptly.

Intrigued Emiya replied "Insurance, for what?"

"To make sure Emiya-kun survives this War. His best shot is learning how to not only utilize his prana properly but how to fight properly." She then smirked at her Servant before she finished "And who better to teach him how to fight than himself?"

"You mean you're not going to try to convince him that fighting in this war is a pointless endeavor?" Archer asked.

The Tohsaka heiress scoffed and replied "When he's already taken down what is likely the biggest threat in this war single handedly? Not a chance."

"And I'm sure this has absolutely nothing to do with you wanting to get into his pants, right?"

Much to his surprise, he found Rin actually giving him a once over. "Hmm, well, he's clearly a powerful if untrained magi, and he's already working to fix his lack of actual magical knowledge. Yet, even without that, he's successfully performed Spatial Transportation. With proper education and as long as Emiya-kun doesn't turn into a cynical jackass like you…"

Rin then gave him one of her coy signature smirks she always gave him. Smirks that he could never decipher whether or not she was serious before she shrugged and walked out of the room.

Archer could've sworn he felt a fuse in his brain blow, as he stood there in shock. For in his original timeline, he had been too focused on attaining his dream to notice things like Rin and Sakura's feelings for him until after he'd already died. But to hear her talk like that, all he could think was _'She was messing with me right? Right?!'_

* * *

Meanwhile, Shirou was utterly baffled. As the moment he walked out his back door to get to his shed, he noticed the crates. They looked like they belonged in a warehouse stacked three high, and easily twice as tall as he was. For the life of him, he couldn't fathom what they were doing in his yard, or what they could contain.

'_I have a feeling that this is Raiga-san's doing. And I'm sure he is trying to help in some way with whatever is in these crates, but…it's consuming my yard.' _Shirou couldn't help but thing as he weaved his way among a maze of boxes until he finally made it to his workshop, a picnic basket full of sandwiches' in hand.

Upon coming to the door, he simply let himself in…he soon found this was a mistake. As soon as he entered he found himself seeing something he shouldn't have. Illya as wells as both of her maids were currently in the midst of changing their clothes. All three were in various stages of undress.

Illya was currently wearing only a pair of snow-white lacy bra and panties. Leysritt was wearing only panties and was entirely topless, her breasts fully exposed. Sella was in the midst of pulling up her panties her bra already in place.

The three homunculi looked up as the door opened. They froze, Shirou froze, nobody moved. It was like they were all deer caught in headlights. Finally, Shirou's brain caught up with what his eyes were seeing and his face turned ruby red before he turned and slammed the door shut behind him, saying safely from the other side "I am SO sorry! I should've knocked!"

Back in the shed the three homunculi were also blushing furiously. _'I can't believe that just happened.'_ Sella thought to herself.

The stern homunculi were mortified no man had ever seen her outside of the uniform before, much less half naked. Yet in a matter of moments both had happened and to the same man no less. 'He looked like he was in shock. Has he never seen a naked woman before? He's a Magus and engaged so evidently he's thrown away such things like shyness yes? But still he looked…so cute, getting all embarrassed like that.' She thought.

It was a plus to Sella that he got all flustered looking at the three of them. Though they looked it, they were not in fact human. Though Illya was born through natural means; that was the exception rather than the rule. Both Leysritt and she were coined, created through magecraft. As such they were treated more like furniture than as people…and people did not get flustered nor aroused by furniture.

'_Yet, despite the fact that we aren't actually human, Shirou-san instinctually treats us as such…does he find Leysritt and me…appealing?'_ Sella wondered while secretly happy she could make him react the way he did.

"Shirou-san saw my chest," Leysritt muttered to herself.

"You should take it as a compliment Leysritt, you have a nice chest," Illya told her comfortingly.

Fidgeting, she replied "You think? But he only saw you in your underwear mistress, so you don't have much to be embarrassed about."

Illya sighed in disappointment "I know, if he'd of come in a few minutes earlier, I could've given him an eyeful."

"Stop complaining you two and finishing getting dressed." Sella groused.

Mirth entering Illya's crimson orbs, the not so little girl taunted "Uh-oh Leysritt, I think Sella is embarrassed because Onii-chan saw her vagina."

"Are you sure mistress? He might've been staring at her butt, no?" Leysritt replied.

The littlest homunculus in the room pretended to think before she said "Possibly, Sella does have an excellent rear seeing as you outdo her in the chest department. But she was facing the door directly so he probably got a pretty good view of her plumbing."

"Enough, both of you! Shirou-san is far too kind to be a lecherous pervert. He apologized, and then he promptly left. He was obviously mortified, so clearly it was an accident." Sella snapped at them.

Both Illya and Leysritt were slack-jawed, they often picked on Sella, and never meant anything by it. Yet this time they seemed to have struck a nerve by insinuating what just happened was anything more than an accident.

Illya was the first to break the tense silence, saying softly "Sella you know we were just joking right?"

The maid finished putting on her casual clothes which consisted of a two-tone dress, which was red in the middle black and yellow squares on it, while the sleeves and gown were the color of sand. Throwing on some long black socks, Sella replied sharply "That isn't the point you two. Do you have any idea where we've been allowed to stay these past three days? This isn't just a shed, this is Shirou-san's workshop. He let us, the very people who kidnaped him, into his inner sanctum. While he was passed out no less."

She continued in a softer tone "No other magus would even _**think**_ of doing such a thing. They would be far too concerned of us stealing their research. But he let us in without a second thought. All because you were in danger Illya."

Stella's tone hardened again as she glared at her fellow homunculi and finished "And what do you two do the moment he walks in on us on accident? You make lewd jokes when all three of us should be thanking him for going so against the grain as a magus to save your life…Mistress." She tacked on at the end seemingly as an afterthought.

Both Illya and Leysritt looked down in shame silently realizing Sella was, as usual, correct. Illya's head suddenly snapped up, her eyes filled with fire as she said "Your right Sella, we should thank Onii-chan adequately! And I know just how to do it!"

"How Mistress?" Leysritt inquired.

Smirking Illya replied "We're going to top off his magic circuits. There's no way Onii-chan's Circuits have filled up all the way after just three days of sleep. But we'll have to take our clothes back off in order to fill Onii-chan's reserves appropriately."

"I-Is a tantric ritual really necessary?" Sella asked, a blush staining her face.

Rising a snow-white pencil-thin eyebrow, Illya replied "Necessary? No, but it'll be fun for all four of us."

She then went to the door still in her underwear and threw it open to more or less invite her Onii-chan magic ritual orgy only to stop dead when she found him kissing his Lancer.

* * *

Shirou was beet red and panting after what he'd just seen. He called his apologies through the door but heard no response. _'Great, they probably think I'm a pervert.'_ He thought to himself.

"Shirou, you're awake."

The Magus looked to his left and found Enkidu making her way towards him, clad in her usual tan shift. Shirou couldn't help but smile when he saw his green-haired servant. She always seemed so serene and happy except for when he was in danger, then she got serious. He found himself taking a deep calming breath and found that Lancer smelt strongly of moist earth. Like the ground just after rainfall to his magical detection senses.

She came to a stop before him and frowned slightly noticing his duress "Shirou, is something wrong? You seem flustered." She noted.

"I-I uh, accidently walking in on Illya and her maids changing. It was rather embarrassing for all four of us."

Lancer let out a light peal of laughter that sounded like birds chirping before she said "I'm sure it was. Back in my day though, nudity was not so uncommon."

"R-really?" Shirou asked, wondering just from when his Lancer came from.

Lancer smiled and replied "Oh yes, back then people would go around wearing very little or sometimes nothing depending on their profession."

Lancer's mode of dress suddenly took on a whole new meaning for Shirou. Hesitantly he asked her "Enkidu-chan, what did you do for a living before you became a Heroic Spirit?"

'_Does he think I was a…he does, doesn't he? I think I'll tease him a bit.'_ The Servant of the Lance thought.

Frowning and narrowing her gray eyes she replied "I wasn't a whore _Master_ if that's what you were thinking."

Shirou felt the utter distain coming from her gaze and winced for even daring to think such thoughts of his Servant. Bowing his head in shame he replied "Sorry, shouldn't have jumped to conclusions just because of what you said. Forgive me?"

'_I can see why Caster teases him, it's cute seeing him react like this. But, I don't want him to think I'm infuriated at him.'_ The Servant of the Lance thought to herself.

So, she pulled his head into her chest and cooed "I was just teasing Shirou, I'm not really mad at you. But for the record, sanctified whores back in my day were noted for wearing nothing, _at all_."

"Thank goodness." Shirou sighed "For a second there I thought you were mad at me."

Lancer giggled when Shirou sighed into her chest "That tickled. But I am slightly cross with you, but for a different reason."

Raising his head from her bust she mock glared at him and said "What were you thinking, possibly dying for me and the others before even taking us out on a date first?"

"…Huh?" was Shirou's eloquent response.

Enkidu tapped him on the nose with one slender finger before responding "Don't '**o**huh' me Shirou. You can feel it can't you, the sexual tension that's building in this house?"

Still holding onto him she looked towards the heavens and said more to herself than him "Then again at first I more beast than human so I am more in tune with such things. So maybe I can sense it better than you can." Turning back to him she continued "Regardless, don't tell me you haven't sensed something?"

"Enkidu I-uh." Shirou honestly didn't know how to respond I mean sure he'd acknowledged his Servants were beautiful, and capable fighters, but did he really think of them sexually?

He recalled in no particular order Laura requesting being called by her first name, Caster and Aoko cooking him breakfast, sparring with Altria, having a heart to heart with Yukika, Rin telling him to call her by her first name, both Ceil and Ahkiha hugging him on sight, that moment in the bath with Aoko, the heart to heart with Illya, fighting Hulk to protect Aoko and the others.

"I see what you mean, but even so, I'm in a magically binding contract with Aoko so I can't do anything," Shirou said.

Raising an eyebrow "Is that right, did the contract explicitly say that when you accidently made it?"

"Well, no-wait how do you know we made it on accident?" he asked.

"Aoko told Laura, and she had the mental link open to the rest of us the whole time." She replied.

Shirou opened and closed his mouth several times before finally saying "No, no it doesn't."

"_**Good."**_ Lancer purred seductively "Because that means I can do this without putting you in danger."

Without further hesitation, warning, or provocation she latched her lips to his. The kiss was short and chaste, yet sweet in Shirou's opinion. When they pulled apart, Shirou had the distinct taste of mineral enriched water on his lips.

Once they pulled apart, Shirou straightened up and just had to ask "What was that for, not that I didn't enjoy it."

"That was for a lot of things. Taking me in, treating me like a person instead of a thing, but most importantly for killing that _**savage dog." **_She finished with clear distaste in her tone.

"You mean Hulk?"

Lancer nodded before wrapping her arms around him and continued while cuddling into his chest "Yes, that one. For one so strong too so utterly disregard, nature is disgusting to me. To see so many beautiful trees be rotted away like that."

Lancer trailed off and shivered causing Shirou to pull her closer and say "It's ok, I took care of him. Seems like you and Aoko have something in common, you're both nature lovers."

"Oh, we both love more than just nature Shirou. Both of us have a soft spot for a particular heroic Magus too." She said before leaning up and giving him another kiss on the lips.

"Ahem." An irate young voice coughed.

The two abruptly broke apart and turned to find Illya still in her white lacy underwear, hands on her hips glaring at the two of them. Shirou separated from his Servant out of surprise more than embarrassment as he said "Umm Illya, I think you should finished getting dressed."

The fae-like girl waved off his complaint with a swish of her hand and replied "Was I interrupting something _Onii-chan?_" The way she called him big brother made it clear to even him that she was cross with him.

"I-I ah-brought you lunch?" he said holding up the picnic basket.

Illya stared at him pointedly, she knew she was being bribed. _'Still, what Sella said earlier was right. He let us into his workshop and got me help even after I kidnaped him and everything. So I suppose I can be the bigger person and let this go.'_ She thought imperiously before smiling at him and saying "Thank you Onii-chan. Come in won't you?"

She left the door open and Shirou and Lancer followed her in, bemused at being invited into his own shed and workshop. Thankfully, Sella and Leysritt were already dressed. However, Shirou blushed when he saw the provocative outfit one of the maids was wearing.

She had short slightly wavy white hair and was wearing an overly large shirt that was cut to reveal her midriff and a pair of daisy dukes. The sex clothing combined with a look of pure innocence on the woman's face…It was almost sinfully sweet. He also had a pretty good idea of who was whom.

"Leysritt-san, you look…different." He said diplomatically.

Smiling at him sweetly the maid replied "Thank you Shirou-san."

Hearing the sound of someone clearing their throat, Shirou found himself staring at the more taciturn Sella wearing a simple red and tan dress with a cascade of long white hair running down her back. Giving him a halfhearted glare she said, "You need to learn how to knock Shirou-san."

Hanging his head in shame, Shirou replied "I'm terribly sorry, I honestly didn't expect you to be undressed at this time of day. But regardless of that, I still should've knocked."

"It's fine, we're invading your home and workshop. So I guess you can take what you saw as…Equivalent Exchange."

Equivalent Exchange one of the primary rules of thaumaturgy. In order for something to be gained, something of equal value must be given up in exchange. For the most part, Shirou didn't mind this concept, as you could see it everywhere in both the real and magical worlds. People traded currency for goods and services. The economy of most countries itself was a prime example of Equivalent Exchange.

What Sella just said, however, irked him slightly. He helped them because they needed to be helped not because he was expecting to get anything out of it. In saying this made them even it cheapened his choice in choosing to assist them of his own volition. Furthermore, it made him think that the maid thought it was ok to sell her body to accomplish her goals, or that he would want her body as compensation for doing something he would've done naturally, further upset him.

He told her as much, saying "Sella-san, I didn't help Illya because I wanted some kind of reward later on. I helped her because she needed help. By insinuating as such, you cheapen and insult me. And even more so, please don't feel like you have to sell your body to me or anyone else to pay off some kind of perceived debt. Illya, Leysritt and you are guests here and will be treated as such."

He cleared his throat and finished "Besides, you're all too good for something like that."

Silence pervaded the shed for a time, and Sella looked at him genuinely stunned. Before, she thought he saw them as people, now she was certain of it, and she was beyond touched. She then instantly felt bad for belittling his kindness and at the same time realized something important

'_Shirou-san, you'd never survive at the Clocktower, or in a real magus family even. Your kindness would be used against you. You would be used as a pawn to the cruel and callous members of everyone around you. Where you would see genuine friendship, others would see an easily duped if powerful pawn. This needs to be fixed, but first.'_ She thought.

"I'm sorry, I never meant to belittle you. It's just that, well, your rather weird for a magus." She told him

"Eh?" Shirou said blinking owlishly.

"She's right Master, your kind, caring, and willing to cook for your servants, where any other master would likely see us as tools and not care too much about our wellbeing beyond our capability to fight. Plus you let an enemy Master, a Magus, who kidnaped you no less, into your workshop after her life came in jeopardy. Most Master's would've taken advantage of the situation and killed the enemy Master. You did not. Most Magi would value their research over their very lives, you put other people's lives over even that. You _**are**_ odd for a magus." Enkidu had pointed out before she took a bite into a sandwich.

"Thanks, Lancer," Shirou said dryly.

Shirou was suddenly tackle hugged from behind and he heard Illya giggle and say "Don't take it personally Onii-chan. I like the fact that you're different than other Magi. It makes you…likeable."

Shirou wasn't quite sure how to respond to that so he just said "Thanks, Illya, so um, if you wouldn't mind getting off me we can have brunch, ok?" he offered politely as he could while turning his head to look the girl in the eye.

In response, Illya gave him a devilish smile and kissed him on the cheek, before she finally slid off his back and took a seat next to him on his right with his Lancer on his left and Leysritt on Sella's right. In between them was a picnic basket which the Servant of the Lancer had already helped herself to.

Shirou lifted the sandwiches out of the picnic basket, then pulled out several teal color cans which he passed out saying, "I hope canned green tea is ok, it would've been a bit difficult to get a tea set in here."

"That's fine Onii-chan. It's a danger hazard with all those crates out there right now." Illya said before taking a bite of her sandwich.

Shirou nodded popping the tab on his can of tea and taking a sip before he said "Speak of, do you know why all those boxes have suddenly taken up residence in my yard?"

After taking a sip from her own offered can of tea, Sella replied "I do believe those are supplies from Fujimura-san. His granddaughter said that it was a gift and that, _'The Fujimura Group was looking forward to seeing what kind of Mystic Codes you could create now that you had decent materials and weren't just working with junk you had on hand in your shed__'__._"

Shirou blinked before he got up and looked outside again at the myriad of boxes, crates, and containers. Gazing out at the sprawling mass Shirou couldn't help but wonder _'How on earth am I going to know what's in all of these?'_

Turning back to the others he asked "I don't suppose I was left with a manifest, was I?"

In response, Lancer got up and headed to the attic where Caster had set up her workshop. Moments later, she came back down with a thick leather-bound tome and handed it to her master who nearly toppled over due to its weight.

"What-" He asked after righting himself-"Is this?"

Lancer promptly replied "That is a catalogue of all metals mystical or otherwise, alchemical ingredients', electrical components, firearms, explosives, drug paraphernalia and bits and pieces of Phantasmal Beasts they've hunted since roughly 1011 AD. All of which are now sitting outside waiting for you to use them in the crafting of various Mystic Codes."

Shirou had blinked rapidly for several seconds before he said "You mean to tell me that some of the things out there go back to the Hein Period?"

Lancer nodded happily to see her master was catching on, "Correct."

An insane smile slowly spread across Shirou's face as he gained a mad look in his golden eyes. Lancer wasn't concerned. However, Agatha-san had warned them he might enter the Madness Place once he was told of the materials he now had at his disposal.

Letting out a maddened cackle, Shirou began reading through the shipping manifest rapidly, occasionally taking a bite of a sandwich or a sip of tea.

"Umm, Onii-chan are you ok?" Illya asked concerned with his sudden change in behavior, only for Lancer to reassure her by saying "It's all right Illya-san, Shirou has just entered the Madness Place right now, it's a higher state of being and mental processing for people like him and his mother. He's just really excited to build something right now."

"_**Bwahahahaha!"**_ Shirou cackled, grabbing a handful of tools before rushing out of the shed.

"He's _**very**_ excited it seems." Lancer noted citing her Master's sudden enthusiasm.

Still concerned Illya said worriedly "Umm, shouldn't we follow him and make sure he doesn't get hurt?"

"I second this idea." Sella said having finished her meal.

"I'm curious to see what Shirou-san is making." Leysritt replied.

Smiling serenely Lancer replied "I think it would be a good idea to keep an eye on Shirou for our sakes as well as everyone else's. Come on."

The Homunculi trio followed the Servant of the Lance towards the sound of clanging metal. They arrived to the sight of Shirou moving to and fro gathering bits and bobbles from various containers, and letting out the occasional malicious chuckle. Illya peered curiously at the pile of items her Onii-chan seemed to be collecting and gasped when she saw some of the things that lay within.

"Dalamadur Elder Dragon Hide, a bag of imported coal, a twisted bit of bone, and ten pieces of Furukuraito Ore…" Turning to her seemingly unstable older younger brother she asked "Just what are you making Onii-chan?"

"_**You'll see, I'm almost ready to begin, hahahaha!"**_ Shirou replied.

"I thought I heard maniacal laughter, what are you up to honey?" Agatha asked upon coming around the corner with everyone else who was currently staying at the Emiya estate including people he hadn't seen since he'd gotten up yet, like Yukika, her siblings, Kaede, and Kane.

"_**Yo, Yukika-san, Kaede-san, Kane-san, guys, I haven't seen you in a while. How ya been? Where ya been, huh, huh, huh?"**_

"Shirou-kun are you ok?" Yukika asked concerned with the way he was acting.

"He's fine dear, he's just in the Madness Place, and it's a Spark thing. It looks like he's about to invent something…I wonder what it is?"

Suddenly, the middle child of the Saegusa siblings, Heiwa, glanced up from the comic he was reading and glanced at the assorted pile of items for a moment before saying "Monster Hunter, Gunlance."

Dud~e no way, seriously?!" Kentaro asked giddily, being a huge fan of the Monster Hunter franchise.

"Shirou-niisan can we help?" Wakage, asked in his usual hyperactive tone of voice.

"I think this is grown up work Wak." Ken told him.

Wakage huffed and said "Just because I'm the youngest, and short, doesn't mean I'm useless."

"**ENOUGH!"** Shirou said getting all present to snap to attention, including his mother. He stared at Kentaro and Wakage for a moment before he pointed to several hand-trowels and said **"If you want to help, start digging a magic circle in the ground over there, and then fill it up with that bucket of pigs' blood."**

"Ehh, Emiya, why the hell do you have a gallon bucket full of pigs' blood?" Kaede asked getting crept out.

"**One of the types of magecraft I know is called Formalcraft. It works by making magic circles and using ritual sacrifice to power the magic. Technically I should be spilling fresh blood, but this will do."** He said distractedly as he began to work on the actual lance using Alteration.

Sighing Rin said to herself "I guess there's no help for it." Raising her voice she asked "I'm assuming a drawing of just what this magic circle is supposed to look like is nearby?"

"**It's under the toolbox on the bench."** Shirou replied waving his hand vaguely behind him.

Seeing said tool box Rin grabbed both Ken's and Wakage's hands and said "C'mon you two. Its time you learned how to make a proper Formalcraft circle."

As Rin led two of Yukika's brother's off Shirou said offhandedly **"Could someone hand me a dragon horn?"**

"Here." Heiwa said with his eldest brother Sekinin's help before turning the page of his comic.

Nodding his thanks, Shirou began the process of making the Gunlance. Using Alteration, he fused the twisted bone and shards of dragon bone together along with the Furukuraito ore and Dalamadur Elder Dragon Hide making up the grip. All in all, it took him an hour to finish the whole thing.

The finished product was a two meter long mesh of twisted black metal and sharp pointed dark-blue scales. The 'lance' having ten points set circularly around the business end of a blued gun barrel. It had four jagged spikes that stuck out on either side that acted as a guard and the pommel was black and spiked, its grip wrapped in dark-blue dragon skin.

Archer was impressed despite himself. This version of himself truly did have a knack for making Mystic Codes, and he said as much "I'm no expert, but if I had to hazard a guess, that would rank a six or a seven on the McGinty scale."

Smiling Shirou replied "You really think so?"

Archer shrugged "Like I said, I'm no expert on crafting Mystic Codes but, yeah. I'd say a six or a seven."

Clearing her throat Agatha asked "What's the McGinty Scale used to measure exactly?"

It was Alice who answered, saying "The McGinty scale for Mystic Codes is used to rate Mystic Codes based upon the materials used in their construction, the power of the Mystery they invoke when used, and how close they are to becoming an actual Noble Phantasm. It's rated from zero to nine with zero having no Mystery and a nine practically being an E-rank Noble Phantasm in terms of power. However, as it was only introduce a couple hundred years ago, and people are slow to change in some ways in the magi community the E-A system is still used for the most part."

Agatha nodded in understanding "And Shirou's was a six or a seven just due to the materials used in its construction?"

Archer nodded and continued "Yes, Millennial rank Dragon bone and scales, combined with alchemically enhanced metal all but ensures this will be a very high ranking Mystic Code with great Mystery behind it. Furthermore, it's supposed to shoot something I think so that could possibly raise its rank even higher."

"**The ammo isn't finished yet. How are we coming on that Formalcraft circle guys and girl?"** Shirou called over.

"Rome wasn't built in a day Emiya, relax will you?" Rin replied as she painstakingly carved the formalcraft circle into the earth, with Ken and Wakage's help while making sure they didn't screw it up.

'_What kind of magic circle is this anyway? It seems to be converting the mana it absorbs from the air into intense heat and pressure, but the last line of sigils seem to indicate…rapid time acceleration? This is insane. Genius, and this is coming from one, but crazy none the less.'_ The Tohsaka Heiress thought to herself.

"Take your time Rin, I'm in no rush now that Malice is done." Shirou called his voice now more amicable.

Raising a curious eyebrow Aoko asked "Malice, you oh Hero of Justice named your weapon Malice?"

Shrugging in response he replied "It just fits." He then turned to the Track Team Trio and asked "How've you girls been?"

Glaring at him slightly, Kaede replied "You mean besides worried about your suicidal comatose self when not trying to smooth things over with our parents Emiya?"

This caught the red going white haired magus by surprise, and he asked "You were worried about me?"

In response, the Panther of Homura marched over to him and did her best to hit him on the head, though it was rather difficult as he was a good bit taller than she was. As she swatted at him she shouted "Of course we were worried about you, you idiot! You tried to fight a god-like western manga character one on one! Someone who, according Aoko-san, beat her and you're Servants who are no slouches themselves. You idiot, you idiot, you stupid, stupid crazy, heroic idiot." She said weakly hitting him in the chest.

Gently patting her on the back Shirou replied "Sorry Kaede-san, I didn't mean to worry you."

She glared up at him from her position in his arms and said "You better be, stupid. And it's a good thing you won, because I can't stand failures."

Kane was secretly happy to see Kaede acting so girly, and she hated to interrupt her moment with Shirou, but she felt he needed to be made aware of a few things. So, clearing her throat she said "Shirou-san, I not sure how to tell you this, but my and Kaede's parents would like to meet with you at your earliest convenience."

The silence that filled the air was palpable. Rin stopped working on the magic circle, Shirou suddenly stiffened and paled. Despite what Rin may think, he was in fact, not stupid. Letting his classmates turned friends know about the Twilight World was one thing, letting adults who could and likely would call the police and thus, possibly bring down a purge on Fuyuki by the Clocktower, was another thing entirely. So Shirou decided to treat the situation with kid gloves.

"How much did you tell them exactly?"

Fixing her glasses, Kane replied "We told them how you got us to safety after the school was hit by a freak tornado during club hours and then were kind enough to let us recuperate at your house, even though you were reconnecting with your recently found long lost mother, which is why you'd been out of school the past few days. Once we explained we didn't call because of shock, our parents expressed interest in wanting to meet 'the young man that swept our daughters off their feet'."

Seeing the odd look Shirou was giving her, she sighed and added "My father has an odd personality, as does my mother. Or did you think I was this serious by choice?"

"Ah, my condolences." Shirou replied

Nodding, Kane said "Thank you, you have no idea how good it is to hear someone say that."

Silence reigned for a time, until Rin stood up and dusted herself off saying "Ok, It's done, all that's left to do is add the blood and kick start it with a bit of od."

Before we add the blood, do you think you could give it a once over Alice-nee?" Shirou asked the Kuonji witch.

Rin put her hands on her hips and narrowed her aquamarine eyes and _**smiled**_ saying in a far too sweet tone of voice "Are you implying my work is shoddy _**Emiya-kun**_?"

Holding his hands up defensively Shirou replied hastily "N-No, not at all, it's just Alice-nee has been practicing magecraft longer than either of us has been alive, so it might be a good idea to have her look it over yeah?"

That seemed to make Rin brighten and she said "Your right Emiya-kun, we should let the _old lady_ look at the magic circle."

Alice's eyebrow twitched. That was the only warning Rin had before she was smacked in the forehead and told by Alice in her monotone "Respect your elders, little girl. One more thing…" she then smacked Rin again and said "I'm not old."

She then looked over the formalcraft circle noting the inner most ring collected mana and converted it to heat at around 1100C or 2012F, the one after that added around 4.5 kilobars or 32.6 tons of pressure, and the last two rings were 0f the most interest to her, causing her gaze to flick up, switching between Shirou and Aoko as she asked "Aoko, when did you start teaching Shirou about time dilation bounded fields?"

"Last time he was with us, I gave him some notes on the subject before he left. I thought he might find it interesting even if he couldn't actually use it." She replied with a shrug.

Alice let out an almost imperceptible sigh and said "That was very foolish. If Shirou had actually tried using the information in those notes, he might've destroyed the space-time continuum. You didn't actually try using them till now correct?" She finished giving her surrogate brother a stern glare.

"Of course not. Until recently, I couldn't make heads or tails of it." Shirou replied.

Alice nodded and then said "Good, in any case, Aoko will need to look over this part as it is beyond me. But this last line intrigues' me Shirou-kun." Alice said pointing to the outer most circle of the Formalcraft sigil.

She then continued "Most magi use it to contain whatever mystery they are preforming within the bounds of the circle, to prevent the magecraft from getting out of hand. You however, seem to have done the opposite. Instead of trying to confine the heat that is going to be given off by the mystery you're enacting within the magic circle, you're converting the access heat back into mana and releasing it back into the environment?"

"Umm, I think I speak for everyone who isn't a mage when I say what?" Kaede spoke into the silence.

Stepping forwards, Agatha spoke becoming excited "I think I understand. It's releasing more energy than its taking in after its turn on! In essence it-"She was cut off by Illya who finished wide-eyed and breathless "It's a perpetual motion machine in the form of a magic circle."

"Exactly!" Agatha cried ecstatically, mostly because she felt she was finally catching on to the whole concept of magecraft.

Aoko was leaning over the formalcraft circle now giving the section Alice pointed out a once over. While she wasn't the best when it came to runes, she had a distinct dislike for them in fact, she soon realized that Shirou had indeed managed to do something incredible and that Alice, Agatha, and Illya were correct. The formalcraft circle was made to function in a way so as to release more mana back into the air then it took in.

"Shirou, this is incredible. How on earth did you come up with this?" The Magician asked her beau.

Scratching the back of his head sheepishly, Shirou replied "Well, I was thinking about how upset Hulk destroying all those trees made you and Lancer so I thought I'd try my hand at making an eco-friendly magic circle."

The Servant and the Magician beamed at their would-be paramour, and even Agatha smiled happy her son was not as destructive as most of his relatives throughout history, something she openly vocalized.

Shirou used this as an opening to bring up something that had been on his mind since they first met "By the way mom, I've been meaning to ask but you're not Japanese are you? I mean ethnically you have narrow facial structure but your hair and eye color, as well as your stature signifies you come from Europe. Germany maybe seeing as you seem to speak the language?"

Agatha nodded and replied "Yes dear, our family is actually Mongolian from my father's side. In fact, the term Genghis or Universal Ruler originated from the first name our families' founder, Ghengis Ht'rok-din circa 1010 B.O. Our family was well known as despotic rulers of men that would terrorize and victimize the country for almost a millennia until my father, and his brother came along. My mother…my mother came from a Germanic European family."

Shirou nodded "I see…B.O.?"

"Before Other." She replied.

"Ok, enough with the history lesson! Let's fire this baby up!" Kaede said becoming impatient.

Looking over at Aoko, Shirou asked "Well, will it work Aoko?"

"It should work fine, yes. Go for it Shirou." She replied giving him the green light.

"Right, pour the blood boys." He said to Ken and Wakage who nodded before they tipped over the bucket of pigs' blood that filled in the trenches in the ground that formed formalcraft circle once it was filled in its entirety, Shirou then traced a kitchen knife and sliced open the bag of coal and pulling out three dozen pieces of petrified peat moss, Shirou tossed them into the circle. He then knelt down and pushed a single unit of od into the circle, kick staring the entire process. The Formalcraft circle began to thrum before it became consumed by an orange light, akin to the flames of a fire.

Once it was done, Shirou stood and admired the handiwork of him and his friends. _'Together, I bet we can do anything.'_ Shirou thought.

"So how long is it going to do that?" Kaede asked.

Looking at the sun for a moment, Shirou replied "About an hour."

"Good, because I have questions Shirou-kun, and now that you've eaten and all but finished your little project, I would like some answers to some very pertinent questions." Alice said in a tone that would brook no argument.

In response Shirou said "Trace on."

Moments later, several copies of the overstuffed armchair he'd sat in at Illya's three nights ago appeared and he motioned for everyone to take a seat. Once everyone was situated Shirou smiled at Alice who sat directly across from him and asked "What do you want to know?"

"According to both your mother and Einzbern-san's maids, you used Spatial Transportation without preforming any kind of Greater Ritual. In fact, according to those present, you only used a one count aria to accomplish High Thaumaturgy. How exactly did you accomplish this feat?"

In response, Shirou looked at Aoko worriedly. The Fifth Magician simply nodded in response, causing Shirou to sigh before he closed his eyes and said "I had some help Alice-nee."

He then opened his eyes, revealing his mystic eyes to the group, causing most of them to gasp. Ahkiha leaned in for a closer look before asking "Are they Mystic Eyes or Pure Eyes Shirou-kun?"

Shirou opened his mouth to respond only to close it and say "I have no idea, honestly."

Clearing her throat, Alice brought the conversation back to the topic at hand. "What do these Mystic Eyes have to do with you enacting High Thaumaturgy with only a single count aria?"

"These eyes allow me to see things in the form of blueprints, I can see the distance between two points and make vast calculations in the blink of an eye, and read muscle movements…"

Seeing her little brother pause Alice pressed "But?"

"If I look too deeply into something I get headaches and can pass out." He replied.

Alice nodded in understanding before bluntly asking "Am I correct in assuming you accidently looked into Aoko's magic crest and overloaded your brain and that she did not, in fact give you a book on time dilatation magecraft?"

"Yes." Shirou replied feeling ashamed for lying to his elder sister.

"Y-You can look into someone else's' magic crest?!" Rin said fearfully while covering up her left arm with her other hand.

Shirou moved to do damage control saying hastily "I never used it on you, besides when it happened between me and Aoko it was an accident! Plus, if I tried looking into your magic crest, I'd probably pass out before I could get any real information."

Rin calmed considerably before saying "Even if what you say is true Emiya-kun, the fact even the mere possibility exists that you can look at a person and steal generations worth of research and knowledge at a glance is enough to scare me. Not only me, but if the Lords at the Clocktower were to find out about you, they'd send either Enforcers to capture you or Freelancers to kill you." By the end she become fearful again.

"I'm aware of this, Aoko explained it to me. She didn't want me revealing my eyes around you because she was afraid you might contact the Clocktower if you found out about them." Shirou told her.

The Tohsaka heiress bristled at this and asked archly "So you don't trust me, is that it?!"

Aoko spoke up in seconds defending her man, saying "Quite the opposite Rin. Shirou has absolute faith in you. I had to convince him to keep this a secret, and we both know why I did it. You're the Second Owner of Fuyuki, it's your job to report things like this to the Clocktower on principle, if not try and steal Shirou's' work for yourself due to your disposition as a magus."

Yukika then spoke up in defense of the girl she idolized saying "Tohsaka-san wouldn't do that though. Steal Shirou-san's work I mean. She's a good person."

Rin smiled in thanks at the show of support from the girl, saying Thank you Yukika-chan." She then turned to Aoko and stated bluntly "She's right you know? To steal someone else's work is beneath me, it would sully my pride as a member of the House of Tohsaka." She sniffed imperiously before pointing a thumb at the Track Trio and adding dryly "And in case you haven't noticed, I haven't exactly been doing my job as the Second Owner lately."

"Fair points." Aoko conceded "And I apologize, but you need to understand that Shirou's' safety is my primary concern. As such, I will put his safety above all else and do my best to protect him from anything I think could be perceived as a threat. At the time, you were a possible threat."

Rin nodded in understanding, she couldn't fault the Fifth Magician for trying to protect her fiancé from being locked up and experimented on in the Clocktower for the rest of his life. "I get it, I don't want Emiya-kun being treated as a test subject either."

'_Or kept away from me for any length of time. I know I shouldn't be getting attached, considering he_'s a fellow _Master, but…I like him damn it! There I said it, at least to myself. I-like Emiya-kun._ _Now that I've admitted this, I should be able to move past it. After all, he's spoken for.'_ She thought to herself sadly.

"Rin, is everything ok? You look flushed." Shirou said concerned.

Sighing at his obliviousness Rin smiled and replied "I'm fine Shirou." Yet she noticed the Kuonji woman smiling at her in a seemingly knowing fashion before she turned back to Shirou and said "So you have a set of Mystic Eyes that can do advanced calculations. That still doesn't fully explain how you were able to perform Spatial Transportation, even if it does allow you to cut some very large corners. What else did you do?"

Clearing his throat nervously Shirou replied "I might've hastily modified my Tracing steps to enable me to enact High Level Thaumaturgy.

Alice's eyes flashed dangerously before she said "I see."

Then, quick as a striking snake, her hand lashed and smacked Shirou in the head. "Ow." Shirou said upon receiving the slap.

Glaring at him disapprovingly Alice replied "I should be doing a whole lot more than hitting you in the head after pulling that stunt. Using a newly minted untested Thaumaturgical Theory and immediately attempting to pull off something akin to Magic.

"Thaumaturgical Theory?" Agatha asked.

Rin replied think of it like belief in a deity or a more simply 'These rules determine how the world works'. The stronger one's belief in these rules, the more powerful the magecraft is. An amount of predetermined power is pulled directly from the Root, as all phenomena is possible there. So, the more people who know about how the magic works, the weaker it becomes as more people are drawing from that power at the same time, it's like slicing a pie into smaller and smaller pieces to accommodate more people. Everyone gets some power but not a lot. That's why Magi are so protective of their secrets. The more people who know about their mysteries, the weaker they become."

"So, in essence, Shirou skipped crawling and went straight to running?" Agatha asked.

"Correct. He enacted a miracle without any true belief that what he was about to attempt would actually work. He could've very well torn himself in half pulling that stunt." Alice replied coolly while glaring at Shirou, who squirmed in his seat under her gaze.

Much, to everyone's surprise, Agatha started laughing. After a moment, she explained herself "That's just so typical of Sparks. See, we aren't much of theorizing we would much rather prove our theories' correct through action than merely believing them to be right."

Alice blinked at the buxom blonde for a moment before nodding and saying "Be that as it may, what Shirou did, although successful was incredibly dangerous."

"Oh, I'm not denying that it wasn't, but most of a Sparks experiments could very well result in life or death of the person performing depending on whether they succeed or fail."

So, in other words, Onii-chan is entirely reasonable in terms of your family members." Illya drawled.

"Exactly, we've always been a high-risk, high-reward type of family," Agatha affirmed.

This caused Kentaro to laugh and say "Wow and I thought you were just touched in the head but it turns out its genetic." He was promptly slapped by Yukika who proceeded to chastise him, saying, "Ken-chan! That's not nice!"

"Hmm, I see. So recklessness runs in the family." Alice said to herself. Ignoring Agatha's pouting, she said to surrogate brother "You said you based this on your tracing steps, so I assume it has seven steps as well?"

Nodding Shirou replied "Yeah; determine purpose, create mental blueprint, run mathematical equations, confirm workable theory, define needed materials for creation, determine necessary power output, and finally, connect to from mental world to physical one of Gaia."

"It all makes sense," Alice said to herself before raising her voice and elaborating "Your use of structural grasping combined with your mystic eyes are allowing you to making calculations that would put the Director of Atlas to shame. Using that, you're capable of casting high level thaumaturgy without the need of greater rituals as you're completing the entire process in your mind, running it through your magic circuits and then projecting it upon the world with a one count aria."

Alice then looked at Aoko accusatorially and asked "Just what have you been teaching him?"

The redhead blinked in confusion and said "what do you mean, I didn't teach him any of this."

Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Alice replied "So you mean to tell me that Shirou-kun all but managed to copy your style of fighting, including the use of completing rituals inside the body by mere chance?"

'_Well, when she puts it like that, I suppose it does look like I taught Shirou-kun my way of using magecraft.'_ Aoko mentally conceded before she refuted Alice's claims, saying "But our styles are completely different. Shirou is capable of using High Thaumaturgy and I'm no better than average when it comes to all but the simplest things. If I'm the magic machine gunner, then he's the magic bunker buster!"

Alice had to admit, Aoko had a point Shirou's magecraft was much more powerful and versatile than Aoko's own which was purely destructive if one didn't count her possession of the Fifth. Conceding that with a nod, the Kuonji witch pondered aloud "Then how do you explain him being able to do this if you didn't show him how?"

Aoko gave it some serious thought, after which she could only come to one conclusion, no matter how illogical it may be.

"It could be due to our geas contract. Because it was worded that Shirou would become 'The greatest hero ever' the contract, it attempting to fulfill that obligation."

Alice nodded before turning to Shirou and saying "Do you have anything to add?"

"Umm, I might've tried imitating Aoko-chan's way of using magecraft. I mean, after all, imitation is the highest form of flattery right?" Shirou added before laughing nervously at the deadpan look Alice was giving him.

Archer stepped forwards then and spoke up, saying "The reasons behind it aren't really all that important. What really matters is that you aren't totally useless."

"Umm…thank you?" Shirou said awkwardly, unsure if he was being complimented or insulted.

As if he didn't hear him Archer continued "You may be capable of crafting Mystic Codes, and doing God knows what with magecraft, but your skill in Projection is lacking…" He then smirked and said "Thankfully for you, that's something I can help with."

Eyes shining with hope, Shirou replied "Really?"

Nodding with that devilish smirk still on his face, Archer finished "oh yes, but I'm going to teach you the only way I know how."

How's that?" Shirou asked cluelessly.

"The hard way," Archer had replied before he began incanting _**"I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body and fire my blood. I have created over a thousand blades. Unknown to Life, nor known to Death. I have withstood pain to create many weapons. Yet, these hands will never hold anything. So as I pray, Unlimited Blade Works!"**_

A circle of flames that produced no heat spanned out from Archers being, obscuring and consuming all in their radiance. When the light cleared, they were no longer in Shirou's backyard. Instead, they stood in the middle of a vast plain, littered with swords of all shapes and sizes that stuck out of the ground as if marking the graves of the fallen after some kind of titanic clash. The sky was overcast with black clouds, and mountainous bronze gears turned incessantly in the heavens. The only landmark being a hill in the distance. Smog rose up from the scorched and cracked earth and the smell of smoke and iron lingered in the air.

"A forbidden branch of High Thaumaturgy, a Reality Marble. This is your Noble Phantasm Archer?" Alice spoke, awe entering her tone as she looked around the perpetual graveyard in wonder.

Archer, who was now standing across from Shirou who himself was separated from everyone else, including a disoriented Assassin and Saber nodded saying "In a sense." He then locked eyes with Shirou and asked "Are you ready?"

"Almost." Shirou turned to his Servants and said "I don't want you interfering ok? This is between myself and Archer."

Laura gave him a searching look for a moment before she nodded and said "Be careful Shirou."

Altria on the other hand stabbed her broadsword into the scorched ground and protested "Shirou, you just woke up from prana exhaustion, you should be resting and replenishing your reserves. Not fighting _yet another_ Servant, even if it is an ally in a spar."

Glancing at his Servant of the Sword he replied calmly "I understand and appreciate your concern Saber, but…I feel like I should do this-"He glanced at Archer who stood calmly in front of him before he continued "I feel like I _**need **_to do this."

Saber for her part, took one look at the serious look in her master's eyes before she preceded to take a deep breath and let out a sigh of defeat, saying "I see you are set on this path Master. Very well do as you will."

Shirou nodded his thanks to his Servant, returning his attention to the waiting Archer saying "Before we begin, I have a question." Shirou said while raising a hand to forestall any act of aggression on the Servant of the bows part.

Raising an eyebrow, Archer replied "Which is?"

"How the hell did I end up so jaded?" Shirou asked bluntly, causing Archer to blink in surprise and ask "How?"

"I've been dreaming about this hill for a while now. It's different but similar enough for me recognize it for what it is. The fact that Alice-nee confirmed it was a Reality Marble just clinched the deal." Shirou replied in a calm yet serious tone.

In response, Archer's hands flexed and moments later, the black and white twin falchions appeared in a flash of light in his hands. _'Kanshou and Bakuya, the married twin swords'_ voice in the back of his mind told him as he took in the appearance of the blades once again.

The white-haired Servant then charged forcing Shirou to roll to the side to avoid being cut in half as he replied "I followed the Old Man's ideals to the very end. My reward was betrayal of those very ideals."

Crouching and eying the embittered Servant Shirou nodded "The Old Man's ideals were flawed, that's true."

Archer's eyes widened in surprise at his younger self's admission even as he continued "But that's because the Old Man wanted to save everyone, even as he killed others to protect others. He never realized that not everyone can be saved! _**Trace On!"**_

Shirou traced his own copy of the married twin swords while simultaneously reinforcing his body as much as he could and activating his mystic eyes while charging at the Servant. Their black and white blades met with a clang as Shirou continued "That not everyone wants to be saved, that for some, the only release from their pain is death!"

The two pairs of swords met twice more before finally shattering in Shirou's hands forcing him to jump back lest he is cut. "Not even everyone deserves to be saved, some people just deserve to die for all the horrible things they've done to others."

Archer gazed intently at his younger self as if searching for something in his eyes before saying "I see."

Several blades were suddenly covered in a blue aura as they levitated off the ground before forming a veritable wall behind the Servant like loyal dogs, waiting for command to charge before he said "Let's test the strength of your conviction shall we? All projects full bore, fire!"

Even as the wall of pointed steel came hurtling towards him, Shirou mentally cataloged each and every blade that was heading his way. Even as he blocked them with a newly Traced Kanshou and Bakuya more and more names flashed through his mind's eye.

Durandal the Peerless Sword, Merodach, the Original Sin, Tyrfang, Gram, Brionac, Gáe Bolg, Dáinsleif, Caladbolg, Hrunting the Hound of the Red Plains, the list went on.

Blades seemed to rain from the heavens themselves and Shirou could see cracks forming on his Married Twin Swords. So he began to glance around frantically searching for a way to not get turned into a pincushion.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw it, half buried in the ground. It could save him…

'_Begin projection…Loading projection…All projecting processes completed-The __Seven Rings that Cover the Fiery Heavens__'_He thought mechanically before he shouted **"Rho Aias!"**

A bounded field in form of a red flower with five petals, each having the strength of a fortress wall, formed above Shirou, temporarily granting his sanctuary from the rain of death. Still he knew he needed to think of something fast, not so much because of the rain of blades, but because of Rho Aias itself.

Though it was a mighty shield, it inflicted fourteen percent of the damage each of the petals takes upon breaking on the body of the user, up to a total of ninety-eight percent, should all seven are destroyed. In essence, it was a double-edged sword in the form of a shield.

'_I need to find a way to end this and fast.'_ Shirou thought to himself. He cast his gaze around the reality marble hoping to find a blade that could get him out of this predicament, yet found nothing that wouldn't compromise his already precarious position.

"If projections won't work, maybe _**that**_ will," Shirou muttered to himself.

**Determine purpose**

'I need something that can stop this rain of swords if not take down his Reality Marble altogether.'

**Create mental blueprint**

Shirou could see it in his mind's eye, first as a bright light, then as a swirling void that consumed everything it could.

**Run mathematical equations**

'_Let's see, if I remember the closest one of those weights about 332,946 times the mass of the Earth. So, I need to probably double that, not to mention add a bounded field to keep this thing contained…_

**Confirm workable theory**

'_Ok, this should work, provided I've got the math correct, and I'm roughly ninety-eight point seven percent sure it is.'_

**Define needed materials for creation**

'_Ions, enough to induce a singularity, plus a bounded field strong enough to contain this thing…I'd better layer it just in case.'_

**Determine necessary power output**

'_Uhh…two hundred units of prana sounds fair.'_

**Connect to from mental world to physical one of Gaia **

'_Fingers crossed here it goes.'_ Shirou had thought before he said _**"Begin Construction!"**_

Three blue magic circles of varying sizes began to appear all along Shirou's free arm while light started to collect in the palm of his hand. The light stopped gathering and had formed itself into a pinprick of searing white light the size of a marble for a brief moment, before it began to warp and twist the air around it while shrinking in on itself becoming a black void…a black hole. As this was happening, the boundary fields around Shirou's arm situated themselves around the black hole in the form of a gyroscope, vertically, horizontally, and vertically again. Once the boundary fields were established, he chucked it towards Archer as if it were a baseball.

'_What…the actual…__**fuck**__..?' _The Servant of the Bow thought as he saw what was coming towards him. He saw it, but he just couldn't believe it. It wasn't every day someone chucked an honest to goodness localized black hole at you, after all. Even as he watched,_p_ his rain of projections was being sucked into the black void. The ground was being torn asunder, and even the projections he had scattered about were being sucked into the black maw…the black maw that was slowly heading his way…

"Archer, get out of there, you idiot!" Rin yelled at him, breaking him out of his trance.

He quickly got the hell out of the way as the spherical void ate a path straight past where he was standing only seconds later. Appearing next to his Master seconds later, he said, "Is that what I think it is?"

"If what your thinking is localized black hole, then yes, yes it is," Agatha replied while adjusting her glasses.

Looking at his 'mother' sideways Archer asked, "Any idea how we go about stopping it?"

"Don't be ridiculous Archer, I'm sure Emiya-kun has an aria that can shut that thing down…what?" Rin asked upon seeing the incredulous look her Servant as well as almost everyone else was giving her.

"Rin…" Archer said as if he was speaking to a small child "You do know we're talking about Shirou Emiya right?"

As if to prove Archer's point Shirou came walking up to them and asked "Umm, does anyone have an idea on how to stop that thing? I just sort of assumed it would fizzle out after it went so far, but…"

"It seems to be getting bigger yes," Agatha commented watching as the black hole continued to grow the more and more mass it consumed.

In fact, it seemed to be straining against the three bounded fields Shirou had put around it already, whereas before they surrounded the speck of black, it now looked close to breaking free of its confines. Agatha stepped forward and bopped her son on the head before pointing at said looming catastrophe and saying "Sweetheart, I love you, and that will never change. But, you got us into this mess now you had better damn well get us out!"

"Yes mother," Shirou said thoroughly chastised before he put his mind to work. _'Well, if it takes one singularity to make a black hole then couldn't another one theoretically cause them both to collapse?'_

Voicing as such caused Agatha to beam at her progeny and reply "That is correct son. If two black holes were to collide, they would cancel one another out via two of the same thing occupying the same space at the same time, thus causing mutual destruction."

"You're sure this will work Agatha-san?" Rin asked worriedly as the black hole continued to strain against its bonds.

"Of course, it's simple quantum physics. Plus if it doesn't work we'll be in no shape to complain as we'll all be dead." She replied casually.

"Thanks for that heartwarming image." Rin retorted before turning to Emiya and saying "Just in case we don't make it out of this…" She then pulled him forwards and kissed him on the lips before pulling back and finishing "I don't want to die with any regrets."

Shirou merely nodded before looking at the others. The Servants were impassive, after all if they died they would just return to the Throne of Heroes with no memory of this event. But his fellow humans had fear in their eyes, fear he put there.

"Don't worry, I'm going to take care of this." He said before turning to clean up his mess.

Taking a deep breath, he went through the same seven-step process as before, adding a small mental prayer at the for the hell of it before he said the words that would save or damn them all…

"_**Begin…Construction."**_

Just like last time the light gathered before warping into a mass of spiraling darkness, just like last time, the three bounded fields lined up to contain its power, and finally, just like the last time, Shirou launched it towards its target…

Everyone watched with baited breath as the smaller of the two black holes made its way towards its bigger brother. Once they touched, the smaller of the two was immediately absorbed into the larger which began to warp, twist and spasm uncontrollably for a few moments before it finally mercifully, collapsed in on itself.

Everyone released a breath they didn't know they'd been holding then and Archer canceled the Blade Works in a flash of light before saying "Well, that was fun huh?"

Shirou who promptly collapsed on his butt in the dirt after the ordeal replied "Yeah, you could say that."

There was a comfortable silence that could only come from surviving a life-threatening ordeal until finally Heiwa asked "Now what?"

But it was Alice who answered him by picking Shirou up by his ear and dragging him towards the house, saying "Now I am going to give Shirou-kun a proper magecraft education just like I planned to do today. Especially now that I see he clearly hasn't grasped even the most fundamental concept of starting out small and working his way up to bigger things. It appears a refresher course is in order ne, Shirou-kun?"

Everyone else sort of feeling sorry for their host as he was dragged by his ear back into his own home by his apparently furious adoptive older sister.

Before the door was shut Shirou managed to get out, "Someone get the coals out of the magic circle, please!"

Sighing, Ken said, "Every time that guy does something badass he either fucks it up or gets treated like a little kid and makes me want to revoke his man card."

"Ken-chan, language!" Yukika chastised.

"Yeah, sorry, sorry," Ken said in a tone that showed he didn't really mean what he was saying.

Soujūrou nudged Aoko in the side before saying "Shouldn't you get those coals out like Shirou requested?"

"I'll do it," Rin said only to realize she couldn't figure out how to turn the formalcraft circle off.

Aoko took pity on the Tohsaka girl and simply gave the magic circle a swift kick shattering it. Looking down, the Magician and the Magus saw the 'ammo' Shirou was working on for his mystic code. Within the ruined confines of the formalcraft circle lay a dozen rough uncut diamonds.

Seeing the stunned look on her face, Aoko quipped "Close your mouth before you catch flies Rin. Who knows, maybe if you kiss Shirou again he'll make some gems for you."

Rin blushed and stuttered "I-I ah-" Rin stopped when she heard the Fifth Magician laugh and say "Don't worry, I'm not mad, you'd already be dead if I were."

She then leaned in and whispered "We both know you like the idiot, ne?"

Rin blushed but silently nodded causing Aoko to smile and say "There now, was that so hard to admit? Now how does watching Alice tort-I mean teach Shirou-kun sound?"

Smiling at the Sorceress Rin replied "Sound like fun."

* * *

**Word count: 17,745 – Date Completed: 2/22/15**

* * *

**AN: Holy Shit! It took me the better part of a month, but I'm back with the next chapter of Spark of Madcraft. Sorry for the delay but, writers block and a sudden insane idea for yet another FSN related fic which will end up being a crossover with Witchblade, Marvel, and DC comics if I ever decide to post it.**

**Anyway, this chap had lots of character development. I noticed I've kinda been neglecting Enkidu and Laura when it comes to the development department so I intend to fix that in the coming chapters. That, and the next chapter or two will be focusing on the OTHER competitors in this War and what's been going on with them.**

**But now, I'm going to do something different. Instead of giving you a servant stat sheet this week I'm going to give you the stats and lore on Shirou's newest Mystic Code. Here it is:**

**Malice Gunlance: Tremor of the Earth**

**Rank: A-A+++ Type: Anti-Unit/Anti-Dragon Range: 3-60 (120) Max # of Targets: 1 person**

**Lore: A Lance crafted out of Elder Dragon scales, hide, bone, and alchemic metal usually only found in the Aozaki lands, this Lance is capable of firing jewels as shells in the form of a short range burst of lightning. The 'shells' can either be fired one at a time, or a three-round burst, increasing the attack power of the weapon by (+, or ++) depending on the number of jewels used. If the three-round burst is used it is a special attack called Wyverns Fire occurs which has twice the range of a normal attack but overheats the weapon for a short time, making it unable to fire shells. Due to being made out of the bones of a slain dragon it has an Anti-dragon attribute and does more damage against such creatures, or beings with that attribute.**

**Due note that just because it is A-A+++ ranked here DOES NOT make it a Divine Construct as NP's are on an entirely different level from a Mystic Code.**

**That said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter, feel free to review and share your thoughts, and I will see you sometime next month. Till then, Bubbajack out! Peace!**

**P.S. This is, as of this chapter, my longest running fic. Even longer than Wrought-Iron Cross. I have two personal goal for this fic, one shory and the other long term. The short term goal is to reach 100 reviews by Ch.10. The long term goal is to reach 1,000 reviews by the time I finish the fic in its entirety. I look forward to seeing if I can reach these goals.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller/Grammarly**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Girl Genius, Marvel Comics, or anything else that shows up in this fic.**

**Ch.9: Snapped, Prepped, and Along for the Ride.**

"_One is the loneliest number,"-_ Three Dog Night

* * *

One week. That's how long it had been since the incident at the school, since her sister attempted to coerce her into surrendering her command seals, since she felt hatred the likes of which she'd never known…since Sempai sent her away…

'_It isn't fair! She was given everything! She was chosen to succeed the family magecraft, __**she**__ was allowed to stay with mom and dad…__**she**__ wasn't subject to being violated day after day… She's taken everything from me, my family, my childhood, and now, now __**she**__ thinks she can steal sempai from me too? She thinks she's entitled to every decent thing in my life?'_

These thoughts have been stewing in Sakura's head for the past five days. Sakura had only left her room to cook for Chimi-san as they had agreed, other than that, she kept to the guest room provided to her and brooded. It did not help her disposition at all that the night the school was destroyed, she began the Dream Cycle for her new Servant…

* * *

_I was but a regular human king once, the greatest of nine others. I was gifted with a silver ring set with pure amber stone, forged by elven smiths. I, King Angmar of the Frozen North was the hardiest of the nine human Kings of old who was granted one of the Nine Rings of Power. The cold lands I ruled over affected my disposition and even the pettiest of crimes were dealt with harshly, especially theft. Not due to cruelty, but due to the harshness of the environment in which I ruled over. Thieves' were burned alive at the stake, and this served the dual purpose of not only dealing with criminals, but also kept people warm night. _

_My lands were truly unforgiving in their harshness. As well as cold, numerous beasts such as Orcs, goblins warg riders, and cave trolls. During my days, I worried and fretted on how to protect my people from these threats, and then one night, I was visited in my dreams by one of the Fair Folk. _

_He was clad in garments of spun silver that made his own vestments' look like a peasant's rags by comparison. The Elvin Lord spoke in a regal voice like nightingale song, saying "Hail mortal king of the far north. I am Annatar, he who taught the elves to forge the very ring you yet wear."_

_I bowed my head as a sign of respect before saying "Well met Bringer of Gifts. Tell me, why do you visit me here in my dreams?"_

"_Because, I am the Bringer of Gifts, I have heard of the plight you have for your people and come to offer you a way to protect your people. The answer lies in you archives, and in runes, blood, and iron. Remember that, runes blood, and iron."_

_When I awoke the next morning, I made haste to the deepest depths of my libraries. Carrying only a torch to stave off the bitter cold as I searched through frost bitten and moth-eaten tomes for the answer I sought. Stopping only every so often to eat the occasional bite of food brought by my seneschal but more oft than not leaving it to go cold as I searched fervently for the answer…_

_Clutching my prize in frostbitten hands with a vice like grip, I, the King of the North ascended from the depths of my library. In my grasp was a tome bound in iron and leather seemingly formed of human skin. Its title gouged into the cover were the words __**Parma a **__**Sercë**__** ar Anga.**__ It was Quenyanna, the ancient written tongue of Valinor that meant __**Tome of Blood and Iron.**_

_It took decades for me to successfully translate the tome from its original language to that of my own. During this time, I noticed my aging had if not halted slowed to a crawl, and my people saw it as odd but not unwelcome to have an everlasting monarch. As the word of my elven-like vitality spread, several smaller kingdoms sought to join my own. Of course, I gladly welcomed them as they in turn increased my own wealth, power, and prestige. _

_Over time, however, rumors started to spread that I used the black magics of the Enemy to maintain my appearance. Due to never bothering to marry nor name an heir should I die, whispers of rebellion began to make their way to me in my keep. I had no choice but to suppress them before riots began and things got out of hand. Yet, with every uprising I surprised it came back ever stronger._

_Then one day, I told by my sensual that Elrond Lord of Rivendell and my old friend and distant relative had come to speak with me. I hurriedly put on my finest robes and went to meet my Fair Folk several times over Great-Uncle._

_I found him standing in my hall grandiosely dressed in silver threaded robes, a mithril circlet on his brow, his features grim. I greeted him warmly and he managed a wan smile, one I noticed quickly faded when he saw the Ring on my finger._

"_Is something wrong old friend?" I politely inquired._

"_It has come to our attention that the one who called himself Annatar is in fact Sauron first Lieutenant of Morgoth. The Rings, all of them have been corrupted by his dark influence."_

_A thousand and one thoughts flew through my mind at once. 'How did he know this? Was he certain? Were the elven lords corrupted? Was he lying, trying to usurp his power for his own?'_

_This last thought stuck with me the longest, and I suddenly became suspicious and wary of my so-called 'visitor'._

_Seemingly seeing my thoughts flit across my face Elrond said gravely "You do not believe me do you, Angmar?"_

"_I do not. You come here suddenly claiming that the Rings that __**your**__ people forged were crafted with the help of Sauron and you were completely duped? I find that hard to believe. That, and if the Rings are corrupted then why do the Elves not cast theirs aside, rendered them unmade?"_

"_They are needed to keep the elven lands alive," Elrond replied._

"_Yet you come to me and ask me to give up my own Ring? I think not." I scoffed._

_Elrond's last plea fell on deaf ears "Angmar, please listen-"I silenced him with a slash of my arm and said frigidly "No, you listen. You have come here for naught. You shall not have my Ring, you won't! Now, I bid you leave my court at once."_

_Elrond looked at me with a gaze mixed sadness and pity before he said "I believe you shall regret this decision my Nephew."_

"_Are you threatening me Lord Elrond?" I asked my old friend, and Uncle frigidly._

_Sadly Elrond shook his head and replied "Nay, but I fear should you keep the Ring, you shall lose yourself if you haven't already."_

_Glaring at him pointedly I replied in a glacial tone "We shall see about that. Good day uncle." I said before stalking off back to my study._

_The day after Elrond had left, I'd had my men bring the still living prisoners from the dungeons' first. They were nearly starved, each individual bone of their ribcage could be seen on their blued and frostbitten skin, and several were missing fingers and toes due to the cold…but they were still alive, they still had blood that could be spilled for the sake of the kingdom…_

_The next time the horde showed their faces, their weapons shattered in their grasp. Their trolls toppled over dead with no known cause, and their Orc commanders were filled with unbridled fear. I walked towards them, alone clad only in dark gray armor covered in rust colored sigils. This, all of it was thanks to the contents of the book and the sacrifices of my people. For now, now I strode among my enemies like a force of nature as my blood forged runes glowed ever more menacingly for every foe that fell to my blade and spell. Finally, the host scattered disheartened, hopefully never to be seen again…_

_A year had past, and the threat of goblins and their ilk had been taken care of, thanks to my newfound mastery of Morgul runes. Yet for the life of me, I couldn't stop now. For with the threat of orc-kin taken care of, I now had a new threat to take care of, this one more human in nature. Fuinur, the Knight-King of Umbar and his armies marched upon his lands._

_As my soldiers assembled outside my gates with me at their helm. I called out to Fuinur who'd stopped his host just out of bow range "Fuinur, what is the meaning of coming to my gates armed for war?"_

"_You know well why I am here cur! I come because you set Goblin-ilk upon my lands!" Fuinur replied unsheathing a sword and shaking it in a mailed fist._

_What madness did Fuinur speak of? I had just ridden myself of the foul little cretins not too long ago, could it be, that they regrouped and went south to Fuinur's lands? I had no time to ponder such a question as Fuinur called a charge, taking my silence as admittance to the deed. Having no choice, I sent my own troops against his. The clang and clamor of battle were all that I knew for a time, that and cutting down any foe that appeared in front of me._

_It was then that I saw him, Fuinur clad in a fully enclosed steel helm set with the sigil of the sun on his brow and black cloaked armored robes much like himself. Our swords met with a fierce clang. At that moment, none mattered besides each other, we were locked in a dance of death that only a decisive victory could end. Both of us were in our autumn years and had long since past the age of youthful, vigorous fighting men. Even so, neither of us were quite so old that it was time we were laid to rest in the barrow downs yet. However, I possessed something Fuinur did not…magic. Wiping some access blood off my blade with my free hand, I drew a rune in blood on the chest plate of my enemy. It's function? To sap the target of its strength and transfer it to the seal's creator, invigorating them._

_Now all I had to do was last long enough to reap the benefits. It took some time, but I began to notice the effect, as my swings became less sluggish and packed more power behind them, and he gained a second wind as well. Fuinur seemed to see something was wrong as well, as his frame shook with exertion, and it became harder and harder for him to block my blows. I battered aside his meager remaining defenses and flicked the point of my blade under his chin, against his throat._

"_You fool, it didn't have to be like this," I told him honestly._

_I could feel Fuinur's glare from within his helm as he replied "You speak with the silvered tongue of the Enemy. The elf lord, he told me of your treachery. How you cohort with orc-spawn and scheme to steal my lands for your own."_

'_Did Elrond make good on his threat at last?' I wondered, asking Fuinur as much._

"_It matters naught, just finish it. I'd do the same for you." Fuinur replied._

_I nodded stiffly before replying "True enough." Before beheading him in one swift stroke and ending the battle…_

_Images then flashed through Sakura's mind eye at a rapid pace. Her Servant devolved into an undead thing akin to her 'grandfather' over time, his only want in life was fulfilling the will of his new master… that is until an Alliance of Men and Elves brought Sauron low, and he slunk into the shadows, hoping to attain the One Ring for himself. One-thousand years later he founded his own kingdom, that of Angmar and hoped to conquer all of Anor. Which, after five hundred years he managed to do, only to rule for only a year before being driven off, defeated like his master before him by combined might of Men and Elves._

_As he fled the battle he heard the Rivendellian commander Glorfindel, give a warning that would become prophetic in the future: _

"_**He will not return to these lands. Far off yet is his doom, and not by the hand of man shall he fall." **_

_As he fled the battlefield all, he could think was 'Elrond was right.'_

_Even as he slew the last of the Gondorian kings from his seat of power at Minas Morgul, he couldn't help but think 'Elrond was right.'_

_Even as he brought low the gates of Minas Tirith with his fell sorcery and Grond, the great siege weapon, he thought 'Elrond was right.'_

…_And as he died, not at the hands of a Warrior, but a shield-maiden and a Hobbit, he chuckled to himself bitterly and thought 'Elrond was right, and yet…even if I could go back and change anything, I wouldn't. No-"He thought as the woman pulled her sword back and prepared to deliver a death blow 'What I want, is a chance to claim the One Ring for myself.'_

* * *

Sakura decided she needed to take a walk, to clear her head and decide how to handle the situation with Sempai. Writing Chimi-san a quick note, she left it on the counter and left his home. She just wondered the streets for a while, no real destination in mind as her mind worked faster than her feet did.

'_Sempai is upset with me, __**she**__ is with him and will try to take him from me. I need to get him back, but how-ooph.'_

So consumed was Sakura by her thoughts that she hadn't watched where she was going and she accidently bumped into someone. Looking up she found a woman in Buddhist nuns' habit with a necklace of prayer beads around her neck. She was tall and if she weren't a nun Sakura would've mistaken her for a supermodel as she had a perfect figure. Slim waist full hips that were blatantly shown off by the slit cut into the side of her habit, and a chest that made even Sakura herself feel inadequate. She could see a strand of black hair sticking out of her habit and her yellow hazel colored eyes crinkled in mirth as she caught her staring.

Realizing what she was doing, the Matou heiress hastily bowed and said "I apologize for bumping into you and then staring. I'm not used to seeing a person of the faith walking around the city is all."

Her voice was melodious and kind as she said "That's quite alright my child." She frowned a moment before adding hesitantly "Forgive me if I seem like I'm prying, but you seem troubled. Is anything the matter?"

Sakura started before shaking her head and saying "Oh, no don't worry about me."

The woman cocked her head to the side and said "Are you sure, there is a bench right over there, we can go talk if you like?" she said pointing to an empty bench.

Sakura realized she her feet had unintentionally led her to the park. She didn't know why people avoided the place, she liked it here. Sure, the trees and grass were dead, but it was a quiet, peaceful place. One that even Nii-san avoided, which is probably why she liked it.

Deciding to take the woman up on her offer, Sakura sat down next to her and waited for the older woman to speak. Finally, she turned to her and said "I apologize I never introduced myself. I am Kiara Sessyoin, and you are?"

"Ah-I'm-I'm Matou Sakura. Pleased to meet you Sessyoin-san." Sakura said bowing slightly.

Smiling slightly the Buddhist nun replied "Nice to meet you Matou-chan. Now, what seems to be the problem, ne?"

Sakura fidgeted in her seat, her head looking towards her lap as she muttered "Cast out of the family, Neechan stealing Sempai-not fair…"

Despite not being overtly evident, Kiara seemed to understand, as she nodded knowingly and said "Ah, so you're a magus. Likely originally from the Tohsaka family, and your older sister Rin has inherited the family craft, but also wooed away the boy you like yes?"

Sakura looked up stunned with a blush on her face as she stuttered out "H-How?"

"This is a land watched carefully by the Church due to having a supposed Holy Grail. Did you honestly think we wouldn't keep abreast of things like this dear? Now, tell me about this 'Sempai' of yours."

Sakura didn't know why, but she felt like she could open up to this woman. Maybe it was because she was willing to listen to her troubles. Maybe it was because she seemed to genuinely care. But most of all and probably most likely, was the fact that this woman reminded her of her own mother. She was quiet, yet kind, and excluded a hidden strength…or so Sakura always thought of her mom before she gave her over to the torture of the Matou without a second thought.

That is probably why she told the woman not just about her Sempai, but about the loss of her family, her torture by the Matou, her molestation by nee-san. Plus how her sister who seemingly forgot about her until it was convenient for her. She didn't know how long she spoke for, but by the time she was done, her voice was raw and horse.

Sakura suddenly found herself pulled into the woman's bosom as she said "There, there let it all out. Give into all your love, lust rage, hatred, self-loathing, and despair, for it is only through acceptance of these feelings that you can transcend beyond them. Give into them, and let them set you free…"

"Oi, Sakura!"

The moment was broken by this rude shout from a voice that was very familiar to Sakura.

Sitting up in surprise, she found Shinji stalking his way towards her, a fake smile plastered on his face, probably for Kiara-san's sake. Sakura's thoughts were proven correct when his eyes lingered lustily and for far too long on Kiara-san's form as he said "My little sister hasn't been bothering you has she miss?"

Kiara put on an amused smile like that of a cat about to play with a mouse before she replied "No, not at all. As a person of faith, it is my job to listen to another's problems."

Shinji's eyes snapped back to her, and, holding barely veiled contempt, he said "Where have you been these past few days Sakura?"

Putting on her apathetic doll-like mask Sakura replied "I was with Chimi-san, as you well know Nii-san."

Thinking he was being patronized and mocked, Shinji forgot about the Buddhist woman and his face contorted in hatred as he said "Oh yes, I remember how that bitch humiliated me in my own home! Threatened me, the last of the true Matou, over you some castaway my family took in because her own didn't even want her!"

***Snap***

**(Begin All the Evil of the World FSN OST)**

Something broke in the dark recesses of Sakura's mind. She semi-heard Shinji say something about getting back at them all once he got Rider back, but she was it was faint as an echo coming from a cave. All she could hear right now were four phrases that kept repeating themselves over and over in her head…

"I don't want to hurt you, little sister…"

"Sakura, maybe it would be best if you head back to Chimi-sans place."

"-some castaway my family took in because her own didn't even want her!"

"Give into all your love, lust, rage, hatred, self-loathing, and despair, for it is only through acceptance of these feelings that you can transcend beyond them. Give into them, and let them set you free…"

A week without the one decent person in her life. Knowing he was with someone who ignored her and her plight until it was convenient to her, and then being insulted by her 'Nii-san' about her original family was too much for the fragile girl. Sakura did as Kiara-san suggested and gave into all her feelings, and in doing so, created a monster the likes of which this world shouldn't have to see. The change was quick. Her hair turned stark white, her clothes were replaced by a dress of black foul ribbons, their edges tinted with red, and black veins covered her hands, now bare legs and feet, and her face. Her eyes were a crimson red, like an Einzbern Homunculus…or a demon.

Without a seconds thought, and without even giving him time to scream, a black razor thin tendril shot out from Sakura's shadowy dress. It sliced not only through the air, but also Shinji's neck, letting his head and body both fall lifelessly to the dead grass with a dispassionate blood-red gaze.

Kiara looked at this new thing before her, could this girl possibly lead humanity to its salvation? Had she become a fledgling goddess, meant to purge humanity of its sins and lead it to a land of bliss? She had to know.

"Sakura-chan?" she called calmly having no concern for the corpse on the ground not fifteen feet from her, her had it coming, after all.

The red-eyed girls gazed snapped to her revealing the semi-madness that lay within. She stared at her for a moment before she giggled like a child and said a child-like tone that was still somehow sinister "Oh, thank you Kiara-san! Now I'm free, I can do whatever I want now, te hehe hehe."

Kiara nodded and asked "And what do you wish to do with your new found freedom Sakura-chan?"

Sakura thought about it for a moment. Then, a devilish smile played across her lips before she said, "Sempai, I want sempai for myself. But I also want him to know how much it hurt me for him to not notice my feelings. Such ignorance should be punished. Don't you agree Rider?"

The black cloaked servant suddenly materialized in front of his Mistress and replied **"Indeed, just give the order and his suffering shall begin."**

Sakura giggled again before responding "Now, now, Rider Vengeance is a dish best served cold, besides my Black Captain, you need an army to lead. But first, I shall have something I've always wanted, a real family."

In surrendering herself to her emotions, Sakura had given herself over to the knowledge of the Matou's magecraft. In doing so, she found out so much more. She originally had an Element and Sorcery Trait of Imaginary Numbers, or Hollow. But over time, she gained a water element on top of her Imaginary Numbers thanks to Zouken's meddling. But more than that she now knew she'd been infused with shards of the last Grail giving her a secondary Sorcery Trait, that of Wish Granting usually only found in the Einzbern.

She knew all of this due to the fact a worm near her heart held the soul of that miserable old man. Using the Matou magecraft of 'binding onto one's self' she took his knowledge and the knowledge possessed in the Grail Shard embedded worms for her own before she liquefied all of them. Now possessing the entirety of the Matou Magecraft she knew her actual purpose was never to act as a successor but as a secondary Lesser Grail…The Matou's Black Grail.

But now, that power was hers and she intended to use all that was at her disposal. She knew due to being a mock lesser Grail she was connected to the Greater Grail which in turn granted her access to the Throne of Heroes. Due to her Imaginary Numbers Sorcery Trait, she could create a hollow shell for the chosen Servants to inhabit. And, because Imaginary Numbers was also her Element along with Water, she could tell that the Greater Grail was corrupted by something evil, something she was attuned with. Something she could use.

She didn't want just any Servant. She wanted something special so she searched the deepest depths of the Throne of Heroes until she finally came upon something, several somethings actually, that caught her eye.

'_I always did want children.'_ She thought to herself before she took the first of the Heroic Spirits and absorbed its information, bound it to herself, and changed it. This thing, this High Servant, would know her as her mother, born from black mud, her will, and the Beast of Revelation.

Her black dress pooled across the ground like sludge. Burning the already dead grass before it began to bubble and froth before becoming a geyser of black ichor that shot up to Sakura's height. After a moment of this, it abruptly falling down and revealing an almost exact duplicate of how Sakura formerly looked. The only difference was her clothing, which consisted of a long black pianists' coat complete with coattails, a white blouse, and black skirt, stockings, and dress shoes. In her hands was a teacher's pointer.

She looked at Sakura and uttered her first words "Kaa-san, Kaa-san where is Tou-san?"

Sakura named her 'Daughter' in an instant hugging her, she said, "Don't worry Bea-Bae, Tou-san is just confused right now. But once he sees you and your sisters, I'm sure he'll come around."

"And if that doesn't work, we'll take away everything else he cares about till he has only us to love, right?" BB asked with an impish smirk.

Giving her daughter a wicked smile, Sakura replied "Too right you are. Now, let me get the rest of your sisters together, and then, we're going to church because Kaa-san has been an appalling girl lately."

* * *

**(Begin Church on the Hill FSN OST)**

In the depths of Kotomine Church, the King of Heroes suddenly stopped as he was about to drink some of his own wine. His head suddenly snapped up and he gazed off into something in the distance. His lip curling in disgust moments later before he crushed his gold and jewel encrusted cup in hand, spilling the blood red nectar within as he abruptly stood muttering "What, mongrel dares…"

He then disappeared into a thousand motes of golden light only to reform himself directly in front of Kirei and the girl from earlier, garbed in his golden armor. He glanced at them with crimson eyes hardened like rubies as he said "Playwright, it seems I have business to attend to. You, as the moderator of this farce, shall come with me and bring the girl while I attend to my duties."

Kirei was at a loss. The King of Heroes was usually content to sit in the basement and drink his wine, yet now he seemed quite wrathful and was talking about duties of some kind "Duties Gilgamesh?"

"And bring the Mutt too, he may enjoy the slaughter," The golden king of Uruk added seemingly not hearing Kirei, or more accurately, choosing to ignore his words as worthless to him.

"Just where are we going oh King of Heroes? Defender politely enquired of Gilgamesh as he led the way out of the church.

Kirei's stolen Lancer appeared in front of them suddenly with a scowl on his face before pointing his crimson spear at Kirei and saying, "Ya know, the girl I don't mind, but the pompous blonde is pushing its priest, and what's more I haven't gotten to actually fight anyone yet. I really hate being kept on a short leash."

"Come with us dog, and you'll have all the blood and slaughter you can handle. Or don't and be denied glory, neither way, you are in the king's way and you shall step aside mongrel," Gilgamesh said with a hint of impatient annoyance in his tone.

Lancer's eyes flashed dangerously and he casually leveled his spear at the Archer of the Fourth Grail War before he replied, "If you hadn't just mentioned a fight, I'd have tried to kill you right now for callin' me a dog. You pompous prick."

"Lancer!" Defender admonished "Do you not know who this is? This is Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes, and the Original Heroic Spirit. You would do well to show him some respect."

"Pff, I don't give a lick 'bout thinks like status girlie. I just want a good fight, which is why I'm coming with you."

Suddenly, the front doors of the church were blasted off its hinges, and in the entrance of the church stood Matou Sakura, her secondary Servant…and three clones of Matou Sakura? Kirei was confused, but he decided now was not really the time to ask questions and filled his hands with Black Keys and took a ready stance, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"Forgive me father for I have sinned. T-he he hehe." A white-haired and red-eyed Sakura said in a twisted, deranged child-like voice.

"What is the meaning of this? The Church is not to be attacked during the Grail-"He was cut off by his own Lancer who said,u"Oh stuff it you jackarse, I'm pretty sure they don't give two shits about the rules."

Lancer had smirked like a rabid wolf before he finished "They came here to fight."

One of the Matou clones, who was wearing naught but a long black jacket and a 'gem' covering her privates while her legs from the knee down were metal needles with large spikes on each kneecap smirked just as eagerly as Lancer before turning to the Sakura wearing the black and red striped dress and whining "Kaa-san, I want to go play with the puppy, can I?"

The white haired girl turned to her 'child' and replied "Of course Lith-chan, just remember, his bark is worse than his bite."

"C'mon over and I'll show you how bad my bite is girlie." Lancer urged while readying himself for battle.

**(Begin "Band of Brothers" by Two Steps from Hell)**

The needle legged girl smiled like a sexual sadist before she charged in leading with a knee strike that was easily blocked by the blue-haired Servant of the Lance. But her follow-up attacks came at a speed he wasn't expecting, and they managed to hit, even though, there wasn't much power behind them they still managed to leave minor puncture wounds in his skin.

'_She's faster than me but weaker. She must only have E-rank Strength. But her fighting style relies on rapid strikes to deal damage…this should be fun.'_ He thought before he used his superior strength to force the girl outside onto the church grounds, where they continued exchanging blows at Mach two speed with reckless abandon, her legs, and his spear both merely blurs of motion as they grinned with sadistic glee.

Lancer jumped back intending to create some distance between them so he could use Gáe Bolg. Only for her to cover the ground between them in an instant, her right knee spike turning cherry red as it was heated up with prana before it was rammed into his gut, causing Lancer to double over in pain. The girl then leaned over to his head and whispered "What's the matter, don't like being my bitch?"

Lancer roared in both rage and pain tossing the girl back, but she merely used this to her advantage, and back flipped, launching the blue-clad Servant into the air before delivering a salvo of kicks to his arms legs, and chest, finishing off with a sideways kick to his face that sent him crashing into the trees nearby.

Managing to pull himself out of the debris Lancer gave himself a mental once-over. _'Wounds on my arms, legs, might slow me down a tad. The gut wound hurts like hell, but I got battle continuation so I can ignore it, and the slash to my forehead has blood gushing into my eye, hampering my vision…She never once went for a killing blow but inflicted wounds meant to do maximum amounts of pain. In other words, she did this to make me suffer…'_

"My kind of woman." He muttered to himself before he raised his voice and saying "I hope you can take it as well as you can dish it out girlie!"

Lancer's body was suddenly covered in glowing runes along his arms, legs, forehead, and heart. The wounds on his arms and legs closed, and even his stomach wound scabbed over. He then launched himself at his opponent at speeds he didn't possess earlier and lashed out at speeds that equaled her own. Due to his higher strength stat, he was now easily beating her back, smacking her around with Gáe Bolg and managed to deal her several large gashes along her arms and abdomen. Yet instead of being afraid and backing off, she charged in with an insane smile on her face. Poking at him like a pike woman with her metal encased legs, stabbing him in gut and reopening his wound once again.

But this time something strange happened, her limb glowed and it 'pulled' something from him and into her. Lancer instantly knew what happened even if he couldn't believe it…She'd just stolen his Rune Magic skill. Even as the runes faded from his own person, they appeared to her and then, she went on the offensive once again this time with what felt like a plus added to all of her parameters, as she stabbed, poked, and jabbed, the blue-clad servant of the lance. It was only thanks to his constant use of Disengage that was able to avoid being completely skewered. Gritting his teeth in annoyance he did something he was rather loath to do, he asked for help. Turning towards the chapel he thought frantically _**[Oi, Fake Priest, as much as it annoys me to say this, I could use some help out here!]**_

_**[We're a bit busy, at the moment Lancer, so I'm afraid you're on your own for now.]**_ Kirei replied.

'_So same old same old then? Tch, damn E-rank Lu-oh, that hurt!'_ he thought as he was stabbed once again by the girls needle-like legs this time, he felt his Endurance parameter decrease by a rank.

"Damn you, fight fair you bitch!" he roared before slashing at her with Gáe Bolg.

"Pay attention to your opponent you stupid dog." She retorted snidely.

Lancer glared at her for a moment before smirking and saying "You know, I don't even know your name."

Raising an eyebrow, the girl replied "Is this some kind of knight thing because I'm not a knight."

Lancer shook his head and responded "No, this is a two people who are going to do their best to try and kill each other thing. I would think at the very least, you would want to know the name of the person who could potentially kill you."

This caused the girl to blink twice before she burst out into laughter. She managed to get out between gaffes "That…is the dumbest thing…I ever heard."

Once she settled down she finished "But I kinda like it. Alright, since you're so curious, I'm Meltlilith Mistress of Flow. Song, air, prose, dance, and water all fall under my providence." She said with a theatrical bow.

Smirking Lancer replied saluting with his spear "Cu Chulainn the Hound of Ulster and Lancer of this Grail War."

Smiling like a demon Meltlilith offered "Shall we finish this in one blow Hound of Ulster?"

"I thought you weren't a knight?" he asked.

"I'm not, but I'm feeling unusually generous at the moment. So, what do you say?" she asked again.

"I say…_**Gáe Bolg!"**_ he retorted leaping backward and taking a running start, before leaping upwards, his spear glowing a flaming crimson as he threw it at Meltlilith.

The composite divinity tsked before saying "Impatient mutt…_**Saraswati Meltout."**_

The ground beneath Lancer glowed blue as if tidal waters were gathering before they skyrocketed upwards enveloping his form, as well as sweeping his spear in its wake. Lancer felt his very sense of self-being liquefied. His parameters, along with almost all of his skills were lost in the torrent, the only thing left to him was his born divinity, even his memories were being washed away by the tide, he could almost see his life play out in reverse order…He reached out, not wanting to loose what made him who he was… Only to scream in pain as his arm holding a crimson red spear he didn't recognize was severed by a malicious looking woman with needles for feet.

The water then faded leaving the only water on the ground his own lifeblood. He didn't understand why this woman attacked him, or why he had that crimson spear even as she walked away from him back towards the semi-destroyed building all he could wonder was _'Why?'_

Meltlilith headed back towards the Church, just in time for its roof to explode outwards revealing the blonde-haired shield-maiden carrying the priest away from the fight. She thought about going after them, but decided against it. Shrugging, she made her way back into the Church where indignant screams could be heard.

"Kirei, you sniveling playwright! You and that blonde whore attend to you king at once!" Gilgamesh screamed his oh-so holier than thou attitude lost as he, along with several of his treasures, were frozen in midair around him.

In front of him, stood Meltlilith's younger sister Violet wearing black parachute pants, a leather brassier, and high heels. She had her glasses held off to the side in one hand, revealing the power of her Crack Ice Andromeda Mystic Eyes, which froze everything within her line of sight without them on in place. The fact that he could even rant and rave while under their effect was a testament to the King of Heroes power.

"The priest and that last one got away." Meltlilith noted in annoyance.

"It doesn't matter dear, we got what we came here for. The primary threat has been taken care of." Sakura said, nodding towards the bound Original Heroic Spirit.

Sakura then questioned Meltlilith "Did you enjoy playing with the dog dear?"

Grinning like a psychopath, Meltlilith nodded replying "Yeah, I thought we could use a good guard dog, so I left him alive."

"**A wise decision."** Angmar said materializing next to Sakura.

Looking at her Servant she asked "Can you do it?"

"**The armor could be a hindrance."** He replied.

In response, two red trimmed ribbons from Sakura's dress lashed out and like a hot knife through butter, cut a triangular hole in the center of the armor. She then turned to the Witch-King and inquired "How about now?"

Instead of answering the Lord of Minas Morgul stepped forward while pulling an aged looking dagger with fell runes along its curved guard and stabbed it into the chest of the King of Heroes while calling its name **"Morgal Blade!"**

* * *

**(Begin Song: Gangnam Style by PSY)**

At Ryūdou Temple, Saber's head suddenly snapped up from his Gameboy and he looked towards the church. He then began shaking his fist at the sky and saying "Damn it Jack, this wasn't supposed to go down for two more chapters! I was supposed to start a flash mob in the marketplace by dancing to Gangnam Style!"

In response to his raving a bolt of lightning struck the ground where he had lain his Gameboy, utterly melting it into slag. Deadpool glanced at his ruined handheld console, then back at the sky before making a rude hand gesture, and saying, "Fine, be like that ya douche, but I hope you know what an enormous can of worms your opening by doing this now."

Thunder cracked menacingly overhead, causing the deranged Servant to mutter "Yeah, yeah, I'm going chill your tits."

Deadpool then made his way deep into the depths of Ryūdo Temple, where he knew Medea should've just finished up summoning her little pet. Without so much as a knock, the red and black spandex-clad Servant of the Sword kicked open the doors and said "Boss, we got a problem."

A hole the size of a bowling ball was burned through his chest courtesy of an annoyed Caster, who replied "Yes, we do, you need to learn how to knock."

"Ha-ha your hilarious you PMSing princess-"After his head had regenerated from being blown off he continued, "Do you have any idea how much that stings? But seriously we have a problem."

Medea stopped herself from blowing his head off again when she heard the seriousness enter his tone "What have you seen?"

"Hades has come to Fuyuki and its name is Matou Sakura. I hope you have that Dragon of your ready and rearing to go, 'cause if not…we're fucked."

In response, Medea stood aside to reveal a young girl, roughly thirteen to fourteen years old stand only 140cm (4'6) with straight magenta colored hair that reached her chin, dark blue eyes, and pointed elven ears. She wore a golden toga that was held shut with by a ram's skull on her left shoulder, she wore simple sandals on her feet.

"Oh good you pulled it off, she's kinda scrawny for a dragon though isn't-"Deadpool was silenced by having his head blown off again. This time from the flames, the girl spewed from her mouth.

"I stand corrected. But this is good, 'cause now we might not be entirely screwed." The Servant with a Mouth said.

"Would you like to tell us what's going on numb nuts?" The draconian girl huffed crossing her arms over her chest.

"Argonia, be respectful." Medea chastised before turning to Deadpool and saying nigh-haughtily "What do you know?"

"An old farts plans just went awry. See, one of the founding families thought he could cheat the system. He tried to create a second grail out of the shattered remains of the one from the previous war by embedding them into his 'heir'. It didn't work as he intended and now, she's not only insane but has the ability to summon seven more Servants solely under her control and provide them with infinite mana. Oh, and did I mention she is currently being semi-possessed by a prehistorian version of the devil?" he added brightly.

"We're boned aren't we? Argonia asked.

Rubbing his masked chin, Deadpool replied "Maybe, maybe not. There is one who can save all of us…I just hope he's not still sore about me attempting to blow him up during breakfast a few days ago."

Her jaw dropping beneath her hood Medea asked, "You don't mean..?"

The Servant with a Mouth nodded sagely, replying "Yep, the one man who can save us all is…

* * *

Emiya Shirou has had a rough week, all things are considered. From being dragged into a war for a nigh-omnipotent wish-granting device and playing host to his fiancé and adoptive older siblings. Fighting against the Servant of a girl he thought to be a family, to revealing the Twilight World to three of his classmates along with the family members of one, to meeting his own biological mother, things seem to be moving at a rapid pace for him.

Over the past two days, he had been trained relentlessly by Alice-nee, Soujūrou-nii and his mother in magecraft, martial arts, and science. Alice specifically taught him the usage of Chinese I-Ching runes, which should allow him to control his black holes much easier now. He'd also sparred a lot with Soujūrou-nii, and according to him, while using reinforcement he was equal to himself twelve years ago when he fought Lugh Beowulf. He fought Aoko once and was almost completely decimated by her without her even needing to use any magecraft at all. But he managed to get one good hit on her right as she delivered the punch that knocked him out, which impressed her enough to want to teach him something.

It was after their fight and Shirou woke up to find his head laying on Aoko's lap. She looked down and, with a red bruise on her cheek and said "I'm impressed, you actually managed to hit me."

"But I lost." He lamented.

Aoko nodded. "Yes, you did. But sometimes you'll lose no matter what. What's important is that you try your hardest no matter how impossible it may seem." She suddenly became semi-serious and continued "Shirou, Kiritsugu left something in my care a long time ago. He said when I thought you were ready, I could teach you how to use it…"

She then placed her hands on his head and activated the Fifth Magic. The room glowed a brilliant blue as she said "It won't be a perfect recreation of what he gave me, as the memories are a bit old but it's similar enough to the Fifth that I can fill in the gaps enough so that you should be able to pull it off."

Memories flowed into Shirou then. Memories of how to internally deploy time dilatation High Thaumaturgy and in essence speed up and slow down one's own time in relation to the real world. She taught him all he needed to know in an instant, all he had to do, was give it a name and see how far he could take it…

Then there was his time spent with his mother which amounted to both her teaching him quantum physics and mathematics, and him teaching her more about magecraft, which led to both of them trying to figure out successfully break the laws of science using magecraft even more. Currently Shirou's shed was covered in dry erase boards which in turn were covered in mathematical equations that would throw Stephen Hawking for a loop. It was during such a brainstorming secession that Sella deduced that Shirou, Agatha and all Sparks by proxy shared a Sorcery Trait. Specifically one that allowed the usage of Thought Partition and Thought Acceleration alchemy. Sella deduced that it likely grew stronger through the generations which is why certain families were known to be 'sparky'. In other words every new generation in a Spark family gained an extra 'room' in their heads. Shirou being of the fifty-second generation of House Heterodyne had access to _**at least**_ fifty-two rooms and was capable of 3,328 thoughts at once…the at least was added because according to Agatha, though the Heterodynes were founded a thousand years ago, they were a roving mogul horde for at least a thousand years before that.

Since Sella was the one who discovered this she was allowed to name their sorcery trait. She decided to name it Zimmer Verebung, German for Room Inheritance.

'_But now, I get to take a break.'_ He thought as he methodically cut onions and carrots for tonight's dinner.

They were having some very important guests over tonight in the form of Kaede and Kane's parents, so Shirou decided to pull out all the stops for dinner while Yukika and her brother's cleaned the house from top to bottom at her insistence.

'_It's strange; I consider Kaede and Kane-san's parents guests, but I no longer consider Kaede, Kane, or any of the others guests. In fact, it almost feels like they've always belonged here…almost like we're-'_His thought process was intruded upon when the kitchen door was suddenly pushed open and Kaede's nervous voice called "Emiya, they'll be here soon! How's everything coming along?"

Putting the knife down and wiping his hands on a paper towel, Shirou turned and said "Ok, ok, I'm…"

Seeing the stunned look on his face, Kaede smirked and asked suggestively "See something you like Shirou?"

Kaede was not dressed in her usual school uniform. Instead, she now wore a dark yellow yukata held shut by a red obi that had the image of a panther stalking through tall grass near its bottom hem. Her hair was in its usual pixie cut and she had simple tabi socks and sandals on her feet. The change wasn't huge, but it was just so different from what he was used to, that Shirou was taken aback for a moment.

"You look…different." He said at length.

Quirking an eyebrow Kaede asked "Different in a good or bad way?"

Smiling he replied "Good, definitely good."

Kaede looked to the side to conceal her blush. Looking at him sideways she muttered "Thanks, I-I don't receive compliments from guys much so it's nice to hear I look good."

Eh, why not? I mean you've always been athletic so you keep yourself in shape, I would assume you'd get complimented more often if only for all the hard work you do."

Kaede's face quickly became melancholy as she replied "It's got nothing to do with my work ethic and entirely with how I look Shirou." Seeing he didn't understand she elaborated "Japan prides itself on uniformity. On everyone looking just so and not standing out. I'm not of pure Japanese ancestry I'm clearly half of African descent. In a lot of way's it's like being a gaijin but worse. You belong but you are never truly accepted by those around you."

'_Ah, it's been a long time since I thought about that.'_ Shirou mused. After the fire, he had been looked down upon for a time due to his Japanese facial features but red hair color, which clearly denoted foreign blood in his veins.

'_But people usually eased up once they learned I had no memory of my birth parents. It may have also helped that I had a mafia heiress for an older sister.'_ Shirou thought, as he distinctly recalled a number of times in his youth when kids who were picking on him were dragged behind a building by her and minutes later came back pale faced and apologetic.

But Shirou realized Kaede didn't have the luxury of a past she couldn't recall, or having a yazuka heiress for as sister. So she put up a tough front, much like Rin herself did while at school. But while Rin pretended to act perfect, Kaede acted tough as if nothing could bother her.

Kaede began sputtering incoherently after Shirou suddenly enveloped her in a hug. "S-Shirou w-wha-"

"You don't need you act so tough around me or the others. Just be yourself, ne. Also I'm sorry I didn't notice how hard you had it before. Here I am, wanting to be a hero and I can't even help my classmate." He groused to himself.

He rubbed his head moments later when Kaede bopped him saying "Your too hard on yourself, idiot. We hardly knew each other a few days ago, so how could you have helped me if you barely even knew me? And for the record, I'm not the way I am _**entirely**_ because of other people. I get my competitiveness and my hatred for losing from my kaa-san."

She then gave him a once over and noted his clothes were no different than they usually were and said pointedly "Maybe you should go change, ne?"

Looking down at his attire he asked "What's wrong with how I'm dressed?"

It wasn't Kaede who answered, but his mother who said "Your meeting their parents for the first time honey, this should be considered a semi-formal occasion. Go put on a suit jacket while I take over dinner for you." Agatha told him.

"But-"Shirou began this being the first time he'd been able to get into his kitchen in days between being taught by Alice-nee, Soujūrou-nii; and Leysritt, Sella, Kohaku, Hisui, and Tamamo taking turns in the kitchen every day.

Leaning towards him she whispered conspiratorially "Don't worry, I'll just keep watch in the kitchen while you get dressed, now hurry up."

Giving his mother a hug he said "Thanks mom, you're great."

"I know." She called to his retreating black.

* * *

Shirou just finished dinner, now wearing fresh black jeans, a dress shirt from work at the Copenhagen, as well as dress coat and a red tie he found in the Old Man's things. He made enough to feed about sixty people, considering his Servant's appetites and the people who would be coming over tonight. Barrowing several extra tables from Raiga as well as inviting him and Taiga, Shirou had cooked two whole pigs in pit he'd dug in his backyard after Caster moved all the crates up to her workshop. How she managed to fit it all up there was beyond his comprehension. He had just finished giving the backyard a final once over when he heard voices coming from in front of the house.

Making his way around to the front, he found Kaede and Kane chatting with a group of four people, obviously their parents. Shirou stood back and studied them for a moment. On the left next to Kaede was a man of African descent, 182cm (5'9) half a head taller than Shirou himself, and wearing black suit and tie the left breast of which bore many badges and symbols of rank. Tucked in his left arm was a white hat.

The woman next to him by contrast was only 160cm (5'2) wearing a pure white kimono and carrying a silken parasol. She had her hair in a pixie cut in a just like Kaede herself and looked much like her daughter except she had a lighter skin tone.

The two people by Kane seemed kind enough in Shirou's opinion. They were both wearing simple dark blue kimonos. Kane's father had silver hair and a kitsune face, which is to say, he never seemed to open his eyes. He stood at 185cm (6'1) a good deal taller than Shirou and he was holding a jar of some kind in his arms.

His wife by contrast stood at 172cm (5'8), had flaming red-orange hair, and was sporting a large chest that looked like it was barely being constrained by her kimono top. She currently seemed to be teasing Kane about something probably him.

Taking a moment to straighten his suit jacket and tie, Shirou made his way towards the group. Kane's father, despite seemingly having his eyes shut was the first to notice him. Turning towards him as he approached, and saying jovially "Oh, and he's the man of the hour if I'm not mistaken yeah?"

Shirou came to a stop in front of the group and bowed in greeting before saying "Welcome to my home Makidera-san, Himuro-san."

Returning the bow, Kaede's father spoke first, in a smooth tone, saying "I do believe it is us who should be thanking you young man. After all, you took in our daughters after a freak storm when you were taking time off to reconnect with your mother. Ah, but where are my manners? I'm Makidera James, and this is my wife, Saya."

Kaede's mother smiled at him brightly with brown eyes and said "Oh yes, thank you very much for what you did for our children Emiya-san. It was very noble of you."

"Think nothing of it Mrs. Makidera, I couldn't leave a classmate in trouble, not if I could help in some way. It's just not who I am."

She smiled and nodded accepting his answer saying "Please, call me Saya, Emiya-san. Mrs. Makidera makes me feel old."

"You are old Kaa-san." Kaede drawled from the side, earning a playful shove from her mother, and a half-hearted chastement from her father "Kaede-chan, your mother is far from old."

Smiling at the exchange, Shirou replied "As long as you call me Shirou Saya-san."

"Deal." She said before turning towards Kane's parents and saying "Gin-san, Giku-chan, you think you can stop teasing Kane-chan long enough to greet our host?"

"Well, I suppose I could stop for a minute or two." The fox-faced man replied with a grin on his face even as his daughter scowled at him from behind her glasses.

Shirou noticed Kane was wearing a pale-pink kimono, her hair was held up in a bun by two pins except for her bangs, which hanging free, and she like Kaede was wearing tabi socks and sandals. Noticing the boy staring at his daughter, his smile widened maliciously and he said "So, what exactly are your intentions' for our daughters Emiya-san?"

"Intentions? I have no intentions Himuro-san." He replied honestly.

Kaede decided to butt in saying dryly "Oh yeah, Shirou-kun isn't intending on doing anything except adding us to his harem of pretty girls."

"Oh, a ladies man huh? He looks the type." Kane's mother said coming over and giving him a once over.

"Eh-huh, I'm not a-"Shirou began only to be cut off by Kane who said plainly "What Kaede meant was that Shirou-kun has several guests over at the moment. Their friends and family from Miyazaki City that he made when he was younger. They'll be staying as Shirou-kuns guests for the foreseeable future and are joining us for dinner tonight…"

She paused before adding "And since the house is always occupied, nothing could've happened between him and the two of us, so leave him alone _**Tou-san, Kaa-san**_."

The way she said that last bit came out as more of a warning or possibly a threat he wasn't sure which. So he settled for nodding at her thankfully, she smiled warmly in response. Kaede then spontaneously grabbed both of their hands and dragged them towards the house saying "I just remembered dinner is ready and the others are waiting on us."

"Dinner?" Saya said her eyes lighting up at the mention of food.

Kaede sighed at her mother's reaction before saying "Yes you glutton, two slow roasted whole pigs, plus sides and drinks. Shirou pulled out all the stops when he heard you were coming over."

"I'm not a glutton Kae-chan, I just enjoy good food." Saya pouted.

Grinning at her mother, Kaede replied "Then you came to the right place, this the best meal you'll ever have."

* * *

Saya found her daughters words to be quite prophetic. The food was quite possibly the best she'd ever eaten. Two whole pigs, their skin roasted a crispy golden brown with apples in their mouths sat in the middle of three long tables. Set around them both were bowls full of various Japanese sides from rice, to omelets, and miso soup.

A jar of plum wine brought by Gin was passed around to those old enough to drink it, which was almost everyone as the drinking age in Japan was sixteen. Shirou noticed his mother enjoyed the wine, and seemed to get along well with both Kane and Kaede's mothers.

"So, how did you and Shirou get separated if you don't mind my asking Agatha-san?" Rangiku asked while swirling the wine in her cup.

"We were separated by that terrible fire from ten years ago." Agatha replied semi-truthfully.

James nodded "Ah yes, I remember that. A ruptured main gas line the investigators said."

"Yes, we were here on vacation. Shirou's father Othar was supposed to be watching him during the incident. By the time we met up again, my ex-husband was alone."

"Where are you from originally?" Saya asked curiously.

"Europe, I'm of Mongolian-European descent." She replied.

Rangiku's questioning however took a different route,"You divorced him after the fire?"

"If your husband supposedly let your daughter burn to death due to negligence, while seemingly saving himself and leaving her to the flames, wouldn't you?" she retorted heat entering her tone.

"Definitely. Absolutely." Both Rangiku and Saya replied at the same time, empathizing with their fellow mother, and causing their husbands to worry about what could become of their marriages if they kept hanging around with this woman.

Perhaps sensing their discomfort, Shirou cleared his throat saying "Mother, do you like the food?"

Smiling at her son through the picked clean ribs of a pig, Agatha replied "It's delicious dear. The pig was cooked to perfection and I especially like the omelets."

He nodded in appreciation before turning to the other two mothers and inquiring "And, what do you to think about the food?"

"Do you cater? Rangiku asked. While Saya added "Is there any more?"

In response to both questions Shirou said "I guess."

He then looked towards his Servants, Taiga, and Raiga who had just finished off the other pig. Turning back to Saya he deadpanned "No, no, I don't think so."

Saya looked away and pouted upon hearing the food was gone, and Shirou couldn't help but wonder if she was part Servant, as she ate enough for three and still had room for more. While she sulked she couldn't help but notice her daughters English teacher, Taiga Fujimura was staring at her intently.

"Is something wrong Fujimura-sensei?" She asked.

The Tiger of Fuyuki shook her head halfheartedly saying "No, it's just…you remind me of a kendoka I looked up to while growing up, Otonashi Saya."

Mrs. Makidera blinked in surprise for a moment before she laughed and said "You think I resemble the Bamboo Demon of Japan? I'm flattered you think so Fujimura-sensei but I am just a cello teacher."

"But-"Raiga, who had just taken a pull off his unicorn-horn pipe said "While I admit the resemblance is uncanny, I don't think she's her. The Bamboo Demon had a certain air about her, her bloodlust was palpable indeed. If she was that person, I doubt she'd be able to hide it."

Taiga opened her mouth to refute this only to close it and nod before saying "Your right Gramps, I watched her fight professionally once and she was…scary."

Saya's eyes became saddened and she said "Is that so, but if you're afraid of her, why do you idolize her so much?"

Smiling like a child enamored with her hero Taiga replied "She may have been scary but she was strong. Not once during her entire career did she lose a match. She was a strong independent woman…but for all her strength I also felt like she was lonely or something. After she won the Kendoka championship seventeen years ago she just disappeared. I'd like to think she found a reason to put down her sword, but I just don't know."

"I'm sure she did." Saya said more to herself than Taiga after a moment.

Shirou was about to bring out dessert when Lancer told him through their mental link _**[Shirou, there are four Servants heading this way at walking pace. They should be here in about half an hour.]**_

_**[Thanks for the heads up Enkidu-chan.]**_ He then turned to Rin and said "Rin would you help me with dessert please?"

"Sure." She said following him into the kitchen.

Rangiku couldn't help but ask "So, why is Tohsaka-chan staying here anyway? Doesn't she have a huge European style home?"

It was Archer who answered "She's currently renovating the place from what I understand."

"Ah yeah, old places like that do need a lot of work. So how do you know Emiya-kun Mr...?" the fox-faced man enquired.

"Tatsuya, Tatsuya Kenji. I'm Ahkiha-sans bodyguard." Archer replied, smoothly lying though his teeth.

The Tohno heiress nodded, replying, "That's right, he's been in my employ these past nine years, the only two who have seniority over him are my maids Kohaku, and Hisui."

"Ah, I see." Gin replied a seemingly knowing smile on his face, before turning to Illya and saying "Your Emiya-san's younger sister?"

"Adoptive, younger sister yes. His foster father was my biological father. Sadly, we didn't meet till recently as I stayed with my mother's relatives and they live in a remote snow-covered castle in Germany that doesn't have phone service. For the longest time I thought Kiritsugu abandoned me, but he had terminal cancer and never bothered to tell anyone…he was stubborn like that, always keeping things bottled up." Illya lamented with a sigh.

"I'm sorry for your loss, but at least you have Shirou now right?" Saya said trying to lighten the mood.

Illya's smile lit the room as she replied "Oh yes, and Onii-chan is great! He's always making me food and doing considerate things."

"He sounds like a great older brother." Rangiku replied happy that the young girl was happy.

Illya nodded replying "Yes, he is."

* * *

Within the kitchen, Rin was helping Shirou divvy up bowls of chocolate mousse that would serve as dessert. As they worked she halfheartedly complained "I'm going to lose my girlish figure if you keep cooking so great Shirou. If I keep going back for seconds and thirds, I'll get fat."

"Do you think I should've served something else for dessert?" he asked worriedly not taking things like a 'woman's figure' into account.

"Well~ nah, I don't think so, just expect me to be beating your butt in the dojo over the next couple of days."

"I'm not a punching bag Rin." Shirou deadpanned before he added "Besides, I doubt you could beat me in a straight up fight."

"Oh, you think so do you?" She asked with a _**smile**_ plastered on her face as she said "Maybe I ask Aoko-sama to teach me how to fight, ne?"

Shivering slightly at the thought of two Aoko's he amended "It's not that I don't respect the strength you do have Tohsaka, its just I don't think I could bring myself to fight you seriously."

Eh, so you think I'm not even worth trying to fight is that what I'm hearing, _**Emiya-kun?"**_ she asked _**smile**_ once again in place.

Groaning in frustration Shirou scratched his head and thought 'why must women be so difficult?'

He tried one last time "What I mean Rin, is that I don't think I could bring myself to fight you seriously because I don't want to hurt you, or see you get hurt."

Rin stopped what she was doing, looked at him for a long moment, then sighed and said "I…appreciate that Shirou, I really do. But you need to remember we're supposed to be competing for the Grail. Once Sakura's Rider is taken care of, we'll have to fight each other."

"Oh really, and you think your archer's can take Herakles alone?" he inquired with a raised eyebrow.

'_Oh-I forgot about him…now that I think about it, aren't almost all the master's allied with one another under Shirou's roof? I wonder what would happen if all the Servants decided not to fight and work together?'_ Rin pondered.

The two magi worked in silence due to Rin being consumed with this line of thought once they were almost done the sound of a doorbell going off was heard. Turning to her host Rin asked "Shirou what was-"She was answered by Spiderman who said _**[Rin, there are three Servants outside Shirou's house. Pretty sure one of them is the second Caster as they walked through the boundary fields like they weren't even there.]**_

"Crap. Emiya-"Again Rin was cut off as Shirou replied "I know, Lancer told me about them minutes ago."

Eyebrow twitching Rin asked "And why didn't you tell me this?"

"I was going to, but you looked like you were deep in thought about something." Wiping his hands off on an apron he said "At any rate, as master of the house, I should go greet my guests."

Tossing the apron aside Shirou walked into the kitchen and said shortly "It appears I have some extra guests. Please excuse me while I attend to them."

"I need to go to the bathroom." Tamamo said hurriedly.

"I need to stretch my legs." Laura said promptly before getting up.

"I'm going to go help Shirou greet his guests." Enkidu said serenely, before sliding from her seat.

"I'll join you." Altria replied, following Lancers lead.

The parents watched the boy and the group of girls suddenly leave the table and James couldn't help but remark "Something is going on isn't it?"

"No, what makes you think that?" Alice inquired in her monotone.

Locking eyes with her, he replied "Young lady, I am a United States admiral, it's my job to not only read people, but also the battlefield and most importantly, the ocean. All three can be rather fickle, and in all honesty I'd trust the sea more than I would most men, or a fight."

He then looked over at Kaede before smiling a bit and continuing "However, this Emiya boy isn't like most men. That was clear the moment I saw my daughter in a kimono, even knowing how much she hates them. Proving that this boy could well be someone special to my baby girl."

Ignoring his daughter's embarrassed shout of 'Dad!' the admiral pressed on "Yet he suddenly jumps up with a serious look on his face and says he has other 'guests' to see to. Yet if that were the case, shouldn't we have held this dinner later on out of respect in waiting for them to arrive? What's more the minute he leaves those girls follow him like loyal troops."

James then steepled his fingers and gave the Kuonji woman a sharp look before finishing "So Miss Kuonji, those guests of his aren't really guests but people here to cause trouble am I right?"

Alice looked at him stoically for a moment before nodding and saying "Correct admiral. They are here to cause trouble most likely. But don't worry, Shirou is highly trained and can deal with them."

"Why are they here? Shirou seems like an upstanding young man." The Admiral asked.

"Yeah, kids got a good head on his shoulders and a big heart in his chest. Plus he can cook." Gin replied a foxlike grin on his face

Yukika who had been silent during dinner besides sharing pleasantries with both Kaede and Kane's parents spoke up "It's complicated, but let me just say that everything that's been going on around town lately, those gas leaks, and that mysterious tornado that demolished the school? Are connected to this."

"Are you saying Shirou somehow had a hand in causing these incidents?" Saya inquired worriedly.

"Now hold it right there Kaa-san! You've got it all wrong, he's trying to stop the people responsible!" Kaede said raising her voice in Shirou's defense.

"Oh, and just who are responsible? And if he knows something why doesn't he just report it to the police?" Gin asked.

Kane fixed her glasses and replied "Because what's going on right now is bigger than the police. It's bigger than even japan. Think along the lines of the Illuminati or the Freemasons and you'll have a pretty good idea of just how huge and secret this is."

"We're talking shadow organizations aren't we?" James said in hushed awed tones as his complexion paled at the thought.

Alice nodded "Yes, one big enough and powerful enough that if word of their existence got out they could and would purge this entire town and make it look like an accident, and they have the clout to make the media report it as an accident."

This got all of the adults' attention, and they wondered just what kind of man their daughters had involved themselves with. They were slightly put at ease when his mother said "Don't worry from what I've seen, Shirou is highly trained. He can handle this without too much trouble."

* * *

Even as his mother said this, Shirou walked silently down the hallway towards his front door, cocking the hammer in his mind as he went before turning on his mystic eyes.

There were four, no five of them. Three Servants, one with nigh-limitless prana reserves, and something that wasn't a Servant. It was a nature spirit, nowhere near Arcueid's level but was still powerful none the less. If he had to guess he would put it at the highest rank of phantasmal beast…which meant it was a lesser dragon.

'_Well, they say even seeing a dragon is a miracle. So, let's hope I can pull off two miracles and beat a dragon if it comes down to it.'_ He thought with grim determination as he opened his front door.

Standing just inside his walls were a group of five people. The first was a woman garbed in a purple dress and black hooded cloak, carrying a staff. He didn't need his Eyes turned on to tell him this was Caster. However learning she was Medea of Colchis, the Witch of Betrayal was helpful.

Up next was a young girl with elfin ears and purple hair wearing a golden toga held shut by a rams head at her right shoulder. Much to his surprise, this was the dragon. He'd expected a scally fire-breathing lizard, not a cute little girl.

Standing next to her was a samurai wearing a purple kimono and carrying an overly long katana on his back. A quick search through his inventory showed it was Mahouzi Zhaou or 'drying pole' carried by none other than Kojirou Sasaki, Musahshi's legendary rival. He possessed a sword technique called Tsubami Geshi, which allowed him to do three strikes simultaneously.

_**[Laura, I want you on the samurai in purple understood?...Laura?]**_

_**[I understand.]**_ She replied after a moment.

_**[Tamamo, I want you to take on the other Caster. Be careful, she's Medea of Colchis, the Witch of betrayal.]**_ He told the fox maiden.

_**[Pff, no problem Shirou. Your forgetting just who I'm a facet of, in that respect I am older than even her.]**_ She replied cockily.

_**[Altria, I need you to handle her dragon summon. Can you do that?]**_ He asked because he knew from having Caliburn in his reality marble that she possessed dragon attributes. He didn't want to make her fight family after all.

_**[Consider it done Shirou.]**_ The Queen of Knights replied in cool serenity.

Nodding he finished _**[Ok then, that leaves the last Servant to you Enkidu.]**_

_**[Understood, are we to assume you shall be handling the enemy Master?] **_Lancer inquired.

_**[If it comes down to that, yes. However, I'd like to just provide fire support to throw off the enemy.]**_

They say no plan survives contact with the enemy. This was proven true when the fourth Servant came out from behind the last two. Overtop his bulletproof spandex outfit he'd donned a fluffy white coat, black fedora with a red band and a red feather in it over his mask, and on his belt was a buckle in the shape of a downward pointing arrow that said "Stroke here."

Stepping forward the same masked Servant from four days prior stepped forwards saying "Easy kid, we came to talk."

With a primal yell, Laura leapt from hiding claws unleashed with a *snicket* as she attempted to take revenge on the madman who killed her.

* * *

**Chapter length: 12,500 – Date Completed: 3/17/15**

* * *

**AN: Hello everyone! This is Bubbajack and I am back with another chapter of Spark of Madcraft. We have, with the posting of this chapter reached Act II in this fic the 'raising action' if you will, and it's gonna be crazy! I know your all gonna love it…I'm sure some of you are wondering what Gin Ichimaru, Rangiku Matsumoto, Saya Otonashi, and James Ironside are doing in this fic…well long short of it is, I needed someone to play the parental roles of Kaede and Kane's parents and if Rangiku and Gin ever had a kid, I kinda imagine them looking (and acting) just like Kane, same if Saya and James (not that it would ever happen in Blood+ canon) had a kid, they would get Kaede. And if that doesn't do it for you…multiverse, that's my final word on the matter.**

**As for Sakura before anyone calls me a hater…I don't hate Sakura. I just think she makes a badass as all hell villain. One that rarely if ever gets to be properly portrayed as such. As for the whole 'summoning extra servants' bit why not, I mean its flat out said she has pieces of the last grail in some of her worms possibly giving her the Einzbern Sorcery Trait as she couldn't act as a Lesser Grail without it. **

**Speaking of Servants here's Sakura's Rider's stat sheet:**

**Class: Rider**

**Identity: Witch King Angmar, Lord of the Nuzgul**

**Alignment: Chaotic Evil**

**Secondary Classes: Saber, Caster, Assassin**

**Parameters:**

**Strength: C (A) Mana: C+ (A+)**

**Endurance: C (A) Luck: C (A)**

**Agility: C (A) NP: A++**

**Class Skills:**

**Riding: EX**

**Personal Skills:**

**Runes: (A): Angmar is a master of morgul rune usage.**

**Mystic Face (Terror): (A): Any who look upon Angmar are filled with terror and dread and take a rank down to Strength unless they pass a Luck check or a Magic resistance check of C or higher. Male heroes require Luck and Magic Resistance stats of C+ or higher in order to succeed. Those with at least a B-rank in Charisma and C or higher Luck stat can rally others who would normally be effected by this skill. Those with Bravery of C or above are unaffected by this skill. (Unless they are under Mad Enhancement, in which case Bravery is sealed.)**

**Eternal Arms Mastership: (A+): prevents degradation of fighting skills when under the effect of mental hindrance. Mastership of combat arts has reached the point of being said to be unrivaled in one's era. By complete merging of mind, body and technique, it is possible to make use of full fighting skills even when under the influence of any sort of mental hindrance.**

**Mental Disorder: (A): Angmar is possessed by the first Ring of Power of Men and as such, has an obsessive compulsion to attain the One Ring for his Master, and he shall destroy anyone who gets in his way or hinders his mission.**

**Military Tactics: (C): Has the ability of a commander; able to command several legions.**

**NP's:**

**Rok-rukh: Seize hold of Terror: (B): Angmar's Blood-Iron and Mithril forged blade covered in morgul runes, this is the fell blade of the Witch King. If his opponent is under the effect of his Mystic Face, the blade is set alight with the Flames of Udun increasing its rank to B+.**

**Morgul Blade: A slave thou shalt become: (C) Anti-unit: When an opponent is stabbed by this dagger, a sliver of it breaks off and slowly heads towards the victims' heart; and without a Magic Resistance of C+ or above, the target shall be killed and turned into a wraith under Angmar's control. Can also be used on Masters to take control of a Servant by proxy.**

**Lord of the Nuzgul: To whom the other eight kneel: (A++) Anti-army: Summons the other eight Nazgul on either Black Horses or Fell Beasts depending on the situation. Each has D-rank Independent Action allowing them to exist in the world for twelve hours and straight D-rank stats which are boosted to C-rank if they attack along with the Witch King.**

**Fell Beast: Wings of Dread: (A+, A+++) Anti-army, Anti-town: Summons a Fell Beast; a Lesser Wyrm and cousin of the mighty Dragon as Rider's mount. While it cannot breathe fire; it can spit globs of vile acid. It also lacks a dragons natural scales, but makes up for it by being swifter than a Dragon. When sent into a dive, the Fell Beast becomes a bolt of cursed light on par with that of Angra Mainyu. By sacrificing two of his fellow Nazgul, its rank can be increased to A+++ rank and can obliterate a town. Fell Beast has Strength C, Endurance B, Agility A+, and Luck D.**

**Fell Prophecy: No living man may impede: (C+) Support: When Angmar enters combat with ****Any Male Servant****, his parameters increase by two while any male Servant ****he fights**** has their parameters ****decreased by two****. However, if he fights a female Servant; her stats are unaffected and it is Angmar's parameters that are decreased by one.**

**There that should just about do it. Oh and I definitely think we're going to hit 100 reviews with this chap thanks to all of you! Yes, you, you awesome reviewing minions you! I hope you all enjoyed the chap and till the next one…Bubbajack out! Peace!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A Spark of Madcraft**

**By Bubbajack**

**Beta: Diller/Grammarly**

**Disclaimer: I do not own FSN, Girl Genius, Marvel Comics, or anything else that shows up in this fic.**

**Ch.10: The Enemy of my Friend is my…**

"Both War and Politics can make for unlikely bedfellows,"- American idiom.

* * *

Shirou made a split second decision the moment Laura broke ranks and attacked that Servant from a few days ago. **_[Lancer, take Caster's Assassin. I'll try and find and subdue the Master of these four.]_**

**_[Understood Shirou-kun, be safe.]_** She told him as she leapt towards the indigo haired man, her right arm twisting and convulsing until it took the shape of a spear from her forearm down. Meeting with the assassin in an explosive clash of ringing steel, hardened clay, and earth that was kicked up by their charge. Their first exchange lasted only a couple of seconds, but in those brief seconds, they came to recognize each other as skilled opponents. Smirking at her Caster's assassin spoke in a calm tone, saying "You're good, who are you? I am Assassin in this War. Or, one of them at least."

Nodding her head in respect slightly, Enkidu replied "I am one of the Lancers in this war."

Smiling serenely once again he flicked his blade so that it gleamed in the pale moonlight, before asking "Shall we continue our dance my dear?"

"We shall, but just so you know, I'm spoken for." she said before she charged back in.

"All the interesting one's are." Kojirou lamented as he prepared to meet her charge.

They met once again in a clash of blades and supernaturally hardened clay, sparks flew and gale force winds burst forth each time strikes were exchanged between the two Servants. Both of their bodies were blurs to the naked eye as they bobbed, weaved, and parried the others blows in an unseen dance of death. After one more exchange, they broke apart and stared each other down.

Lancer had several deep cuts delivered to her person, particularly her abdomen, and non-weaponized arm. However, these cuts that were already healing over thanks to her clay formed body. Assassin had a few minor cuts on his arms his, kimono was torn here and there, but otherwise he was fine. It was clear that while Lancer had the superior body, Assassin had the superior skill.

_'__It seems as though Shirou-kun/that old hag has sent me up against a strong opponent.'_ Both servant's thought simultaneously.

Assassin then took an actual stance with his sword. He held it in reverse grip, blade edge pointing upwards, his left palm braced against the pommel of his sword, his knees bent and body turned to the side.

"Tsubame Gaeshi!"

Three simultaneous flashes of light, one surrounded Lancer, the other cut off her escape from above, and the last blocked exit from the side. It was a technique meant to ensure the death of an opponent by striking three times in an instant, and that unknown to its user, utilized the Second Magic to a degree. This skill should have, if not killed, taken Lancer out of the fight long enough for Assassin to get to her Master…

_'__Impossible!'_ Assassin thought as he saw the Servant of the Lance standing in front of him completely unharmed. One look at his Monohoshi Zao and he knew why.

The blade was completely covered in a golden chain, blunting its edge, and making Tsubame Gaeshi ineffective. The other end of the chain was held in her free hand while her spear shaped one was currently speeding towards him. Knowing he could do nothing to stop it, Kojirou braced for the impact he knew he would soon feel in his chest…only he didn't.

Instead, he mentally winced in pain as his sword arm was stabbed through making it impossible for him to utilize Tsubame Gaeshi again. Staring at the earthen spear as it was yanked with a squelching noise out of his shoulder, he looked to its bearer and asked "Why, why spare me death?"

"I didn't want to kill you, just stop you, and that's exactly what I did," Enkidu replied calmly before turning to watch Altria struggle with her opponent.

* * *

Altria too had already engaged her opponent, the Dragon in the form of a young girl. The Golden-haired Queen of Knights lashed out at the Colchian Dragon with Caliburn, her Prana Burst going full bore throughout her lithe frame and struck out at her adversary…Only for her beloved blade to deftly be caught in the child's hand, much to her shock.

Seeing the look on her face, Argonia couldn't help but laugh and said "What, you didn't actually think this thing could hurt me did you? I don't know who you are, but I can tell whoever forged your sword did so using Dragon's Breath."

She then sniffed the air before continuing "More than that, it granted the person who he bequeathed it to the soul and blood of a Dragon, you if I'm not mistaken." Argonia's grip then tightened on the blade and she finished "But he must've forgotten to mention that what our breath wrought we can unmake."

The draconian girl then lets loose a gout of flame from her mouth while increasing the pressure of her grip on Caliburn. Nothing happened at first, then a crack formed along the length of the blade all the way down to the hilt. The crack then spider-webbed out until Caliburn, Golden Sword of the Victorious shattered like so much glass in its master's hands. Altria stared in shock as her beloved blade crumbled in her hands, only to be brought back to reality by a hard shove to the chest. It had the effect of not only knocking her out of her trance, but pissing her off, royally.

"You…" Sher growled her voice hoarse with rage **"**You broke my favorite Noble Phantasm, you broke my Caliburn…"

"Yeah I did, what are you going to do about it?" Argonia asked cockily now that she had destroyed her Noble Phantasm.

In response, Altria held out her arm and a long spear materialized. The dark ash wood shaft was a meter long. Its blade was a foot long, broad, and serrated along its edges with a guard wrought in bronze and covered in runes surrounding it. It looked more suited for hunting wild boar than as a weapon on the battlefield.

Saber swung the blade forward before gripping it with both hands and saying "I said you broke my favorite Noble Phantasm, not my only one. Behold,** Rhongomyniad: Spear of Slaying**!"

Once its name was called, the spearhead flared with golden prana, and once again Saber flooded her limbs with prana cracking the earth beneath her as she burst forward. But the girl she was charging at disappeared in a flash of light.

When it cleared in her place stood a twelve meters long lizard covered in purple scales, with three, one meter long claws on each foot, and two long horns jutting backward from its head. It lacked the wings or spiked tail of its millennial or divine rank brethren, but it was still a phantasmal beast of the highest rank. But as it opened his mouth full of razor sharp fangs that could easily rend steel and roared, Altria was actually glad she wasn't of the millennial or divine beast ranks.

_'__It looks like I'm going to have a hard enough time as it is. I need to move faster I need…'_

**"****Come to me, Hengroen!" **she called.

A whinny was heard, and moments later, a pure white stallion materialized beside the Queen of Knights. It was already saddled and standing tall and proud, showing no sign of bolting even in front of a Phantasmal Beast of the highest order. Instead, he nuzzled Altria's hand affectionately and seemed to be trying to get into her armors dress.

This caused the Queen to laugh and say "Sorry boy, I didn't bring you any carrots, perhaps once this is over. Will you ride with me against an inhuman foe once again?"

The stallion reared back and neighed in response, causing Altria to grin before mounting her phantasmal horse. Raising Rhongomyniad high above her head as Hengroen reared again, the Queen of Knights roared "Charge!"

Pouring prana into both her lance and her steed, they acted in concert and charged. Again, a golden glow surrounded the spear tip, only this time, it began to spiral like a drill as she and Hengroen approached their target. A target which, in response to their charge, breathed an all-consuming gout of flame at them from its maw. As the flames raced towards them both, horse and rider leaped into the air over the oncoming scourge. Altria had raised Rhongomynaid with both hands over her head before she leaped from the saddle, a chivalrous yell on her lips.

She bent her body backward as she flew through the air, her target: the shoulder blades of her opponent. She flew past the dragons' neck, its flames ceased as she tried and failed to snap at her with her jaws. Altria plunged Rhongomynaid in-between the beasts' shoulder blades, as it was one of the few places dragons natural weapons couldn't reach. Usually once on the back a knight would cut off the head at the base of the neck as Lancelot did when he slew a dragon with Arondight. But she sought to wound and distract, not kill this phantasmal beast.

Argonia thrashed her head, tail, and claws. Sending gouts of fire into the sky, destroying the front facing wall of the Emiya Estate with her tail and gouging deep tracts into the earth with her claws. Yet she dared not roll in an attempt to shake her opponent off, for a dragons weakest point was their belly, and if exposed, she was as good as dead. Then, seemingly without warning, the master of the knight astride her charged into the fray…

* * *

**[Go now while I have the Dragon distracted Shirou!]** Altria told him over their shared mental link.

**_[Right.]_** Shirou replied before he activated his Mystic Eyes and reinforcing himself as much as he could before he ran into the fray. With his eyes now active, everything around him seemingly slowed. He could see the possibilities in the form of ghostly after-images like when something moves too quickly, except this thing hadn't occurred yet. He was running various complex calculations through his head a mile a second as he ran forward. He was already working on calculating the most likely path past Altria and the still thrashing Dragon even as he continued to move towards them.

_'__Ok, that tail has an eighty-six percent probability of crushing me at my current level of speed. However, if I change course, then I have a ninety-six percent chance of being cut in half by its claws by accident. Or worse, a ninety-eight-point-six percent chance of getting either eaten or burnt alive should I go near its mouth. So tail it is, I just need to speed up…a lot. Well, now's a good a time as any to try __**that**__ out.'_

The 'that' in question being the final gift the Old Man left with Aoko for him. As he raced towards the amethyst colored dragon's tail he intoned **"Chrono Trigger, Fire!"**

Everything around him slowed down to a snail's pace. '_No, it's not that they slowed down, I've sped myself up in relation to the real world.'_ Shirou reminded himself.

The last gift Kiritsugu had left him was the knowledge of his Innate Time Control. However, by the time he passed it on to Aoko, the knowledge he had of this skill was in his Magic Crest was fragmented and incomplete at best. So Aoko had to transfer some of her own know-how on time dilatation to make up for the difference. And, since she was transferring the memories and not the magic circuits itself, he was in no harm of his body rejecting the knowledge he gained.

Currently, due to his prior reinforcement, he had straight E-ranked physical stats because he was now moving at twice normal speed due to the fact he was on a different time axis compared to everything else. He theorized his physical skills would continue to increase by a factor of five for every subsequent level he pushed past the initial one.

Shirou pushed thoughts of testing out of his mind and focused on the task at hand, getting past the dragon's tail and to the Master on the other side. It was already headed on its downward arc. Shirou couldn't stop, as his expanded situational awareness his eyes granted him, told him if he did he would be sliced to pieces by an incoming claw seconds later. So he did something only he would dare to do. He slid underneath the incoming tail, like a baseball player stealing home plate.

He managed to miss getting his head crushed by millimeters. But he gave it no thought as he immediately got up and continued running. This was made harder by the fact that Chrono Trigger ended after he made it past the tail and Gaia enforced its corrective influence on his body in the form of pain, lots of it. But Shirou had felt worse. Gáe Bolg piercing his heart was worse, walking through the flames of the Fuyuki Fire was worse by far. So he was able to easily ignore the pain with little more than a grunt escaping his lips as he soldiered on. Besides, he had a healing factor now, thanks to his Horse alignment granted by his Throne of Apotheosis.

He'd just made it out of what remained of his front gate when he was confronted by the hovering Caster, who was using her cloak like a set of wings to fly. Her staff in one hand she smirked at him and said "Impressive boyo, to produce something close to Magic. Something I can only do within the bounds of my Temple. You put yourself on a different time access for a few seconds accelerating your own speed and increasing your strength…via an internalized Greater Ritual? Very impressive." Caster said complimenting him.

"Thanks but I'd like to step out for a bit if it's all the same to you, so if you'd please step aside." He asked in faux politeness.

Caster laughed haughtily just like the witch society labeled her as before she replied "So you can kill Souichirou-sama? I think not. How about this though, you join me, and I won't kill you where you stand?"

_'__Souichirou, is that the name of her Master?'_ Shirou had thought before he replied "I don't think so, plus I'm pretty sure you're too tied up to stop me."

"Oh, how do you figure? Caster asked, bemused.

Point up and to his left Shirou replied "Her."

All Caster saw was a black, pink, and tan blur seconds before it slammed into her and sent her flying backward into a still standing bit of wall. Moments later, after the crash he heard Tamamo yelling "Get your paws off Shirou you old bitch!"

"Who are you calling old and furthermore I want nothing to do with that boy other than his Command Seals! And I'll have them and all of you after I cut off his arm." Medea shouted back, along with shooting volley after volley of arcs of light.

Shirou had half a mind to assist Tamamo until he saw the look in her amber colored eyes. She looked feral for lack of a better term, her pupils were silted, her hair stood stiff as if electrified, her tail was erect and fluffed out, and her ears lay flat on her head. All in all, she looked like a savage beast at the moment.

Her voice came out as a vicious guttural snarl **"You'll do no such thing! I'll tear you to pieces before you harm a hair on his head!"**

"Caster are you-" Shirou began only to stop when Tamamo glanced in his direction and said in a slightly less monstrous tone **"Don't worry Shirou, I've got this bitch. You go take care of her Master."**

"But-" he began, only to be cut off again when she all but roared **"Go! I've…I've got this."**

Needing no further prompting Shirou ran past the two Casters but not before saying to his own "Be safe."

As Shirou continued on the battled between Casters commenced. Medea started it firing more than a dozen arcs of light towards her pink haired adversary. In response, an immaculate eight hand span shield-

_'__No, not a shield, a mirror.'_ Medea realized, a full length round eight hand span mirror covered in lapis lazuli with four onyx spheres on either side formed in front of her and absorbed the attack.

As if to add insult to injury Medea's fellow Caster then grabbed the mirror by its top handle and proceeded to try and beat her to death with it.

"What kind of Caster are you, trying to club me to death?!" Medea questioned as she avoided getting clobbered by the weighty mirror.

"The kind where all bets are off when you threaten her master, **Eight Fold Blessing of Amaterasu!"**

The effect was immediate. Five spectral red tori gates surrounded them in the shape of a pentagon with two floating paper Ofuda seals floating in between each one. Tendrils of energy flowed from the ghostly gates to the mirror, which was now spinning horizontally above Caster. Medea had identified as Tamamo-no-mea, and then a beam of light came down from the mirror and enveloped Tamamo.

Due to her connection with Fuyuki's ley lines, Caster knew what was going on. _'She's being granted infinite mana for a limited amount of time… not just from Fuyuki's ley lines but it seems the mirror draws from all of them simultaneously….this could be bad…'_

Medea didn't know how right she was. As, as soon as she unveiled her Noble Phantasm, Tamamo unleashed an unholy barrage of curses upon the Witch of betrayal.

**_"_****_Mantra: Bestial Heaven, Curse Frigid Heaven!"_**

The image of a fox formed in the clouds before it opened its mouth and it let out a beam of frigid cold. A beam which became an icy spire the moment it struck the ground where Medea was only seconds earlier. But Tamamo was far from finished; in fact, that was just the opening salvo.

**"****Mantra: Merciful Sky, Charm: Spirit Theft!" **Tamamo growled.

Again tendrils of mana formed in the air, only this time, they came from Medea herself and coalesced into Tamamo's outstretched and waiting palm in the shape of a sphere the size of a chicken egg.

Medea felt her carefully cultivated reserves drop from A+ rank all the way down to C- which was even lower than her original mana rank of B. She now had roughly a quarter of her mana left and due to lacking an actual master, she would need all of it in order to sustain herself. Assassin and Saber would continue to exist as long as the gate to the temple stood, so they were the least of her concerns.

Her opponent had other ideas however as she chanted another Mantra. **_"Mantra: Aphotic Cave!"_**

The area around them changed to that of an earth formed cave. Then, an aura formed around Tamamo in the shape of a tree while its 'roots' sucked even more mana from Medea's personal stores. Leaving her with only D-rank mana left, not even enough to fire off a single spell.

Now with her weak and unable to defend herself did Tamamo decide to finish it. But not without some parting words "You remember this, you remember how weak and helpless you feel right now next time you even think about threatening my Master…**_Curse: Voided Heaven!_**

A black sphere formed in Caster's palm before it shot out at bullet-like speeds and struck Medea in the chest, knocking her out. More than that though, it would give her a serious case of the flu over the next couple of days.

_'__That'll show you, threaten my master huh? I don't think so.'_ Tamamo had thought smugly to herself before she went to see if Shirou was doing ok.

* * *

Shirou finally made it away from most of the Servant battles, he could see Laura and that masked Servant fighting furiously down the street. He made his way towards them, only to stop when a familiar face blocked his path.

"Kuzuki-sensei, what-"Shirou stopped talking and became grimly serious when he realized a couple of things.

One, Kuzuki-sensei was in clear view of a battle of not only Servants but also a Dragon, and he wasn't freaking out. Secondly, he was looking at Shirou with cold, calculating eyes as if he was about to attack him. Lastly there was no one else on the street right now, meaning…

"Your Caster's Master aren't you Kuzuki-sensei?" Shirou asked eerily calm.

In response, Kuzuki dashed towards his pupil with unnatural speed, his arms hung loose, with his fists clenched. Shirou immediately recognized the style his teacher history teacher was using…Soujūrou-nii had been teaching it to him for the past ten years. It was Hebi, a unique mixture of Bajiquan and its sister art, Piguazhang. Whereas Baij focused on explosive punches and elbow strikes, Pigua used flexibility combined with chops and palm thrusts. Hebi took Pigua's flexibility and combined it with Baji's explosive punches and elbow strikes to make an unpredictable assassination style.

It had a weakness, however if the element of surprise has been lost or the opponent has prior knowledge of the style, it's not nearly as effective as it would be. Shirou possessed knowledge in spades, as Kuzuki was about to find out.

Even as he shouted "Trace, on!" and traced the married twin swords, Shirou thought back to an ancient Chinese proverb which states: _"When Pigua is added to Baij, gods and demons will all be terrified.__When Baij is added to Pigua, heroes will sigh knowing they are no match against it."_

Shirou knew from recounting by both Soujūrou-nii and Aoko that at least half of that proverb was right, as Lugh Beowulf a Divine Beast, was absolutely terrified when Soujūrou-nii killed him twice over in an instant. He knew the second half was correct due to defeating the Incredible Hulk using lightning infused strikes.

_'__I can do this-'_Shirou thought as he charged towards his teacher, Kanshou and Bakuya in hand_-I __**can**__ do this!'_

Traced Noble Phantasm met magically reinforced fist with a deafening clang. Shirou blocked a strike to his head with the black tortoise shelled blade, only to spin on his heel to move with the path of the elbow strike that he knew was sure to follow. He then slashed with the misty Bakuya at Kuzuki's abdomen as he came out of the spin. It should've torn right through his suit and bit deep into the flesh beneath. Instead, however, it barely managed to tear his suit jacket.

_'__His suit is heavily reinforced too.'_ Shirou thought as he blocked another flurry of a dozen curving strikes with Kanshou and Bakuya.

A rapid metallic pinging sound filled the air as Kuzuki tried to punch his way past Shirou's guard. Finally, on the twenty-seventh strike, the married twin swords shattered into numerous motes of light. But Shirou was waiting for this to happen. The moment Kanshou and Bakuya broke Kuzuki-sensei moved in for the kill, aiming for the back of his head with one hand and his temple with the elbow of his other arm.

**"****Chrono Trigger Double Tap, Fire!"**

Shirou was now moving fifteen times normal human speed. He traced another pair of swords, this time two copies of Durandal, the Peerless sword of Roland. Using them, he blocked the punch to his head and parried the elbow strike to his temple before he delivered punishing punch to his teachers gut, not hurting him, but sending in flying back just as Gaia inflicted its corrective influence on his body.

Kuzuki's face gained a look of actual emotion for the first time since the fight started, he looked surprised. The look was still on his face as he said "You know Snake, who taught you?"

"My adoptive older brother Soujūrou-nii."

"Suzuki Soujūrou?" Kuzuki asked with a hint of fear in his voice.

Confused, Shirou replied "Yes, why?"

"The snake sheds its skin, and is thus immortal, for as the last generation withers and dies, the next generation is born to succeed them. You should ask him about it when he meets you in the afterlife." Kuzuki replied, his face and tone once again stoic.

"No one's dying today Kuzuki-sensei. **Chrono Trigger Double Tap, Fire!" **Shirou said again before he invoked one of the three miracles in each of the traced swords.

_'__Durandal I beseech thee, sever his protection!' _Shirou thought before the golden enamel on the blades glowed before becoming a dull bronze as he stabbed them both clean through his teacher's pants legs and impaled them into the ground. He then used Alteration to change the shape of the blades specifically the tips, thickening and jutting it out in various directions until it became a makeshift anchor, pinning him in place.

He jumped back out of range of his sensei's strike range just in time for Chrono Trigger to end.

He felt like he'd just tried to make a circuit out of his nerves again, but it wasn't a pain he couldn't handle. _'Now that Kuzuki-sensei is rooted to the ground, it's time to finish this.'_ Shirou thought grimly.

Shirou was grim not because he'd have to hurt his teacher, but because of the weapon he was about to trace next. He would've much rather use his Gunlance, but he didn't feel like destroying an entire street just to take out one man who wasn't even a Servant. So instead, he traced a weapon whose history was soaked in death and bloodshed, yet was crafted to save others even as it killed others.

**_"_****_Trace, on!"_** he called.

Lightning arced from his outstretched hand for a moment before the Old Man's personal Mystic Code, the Thompson Contender appeared in his outstretched hand. He tightened his grip on the walnut wood pistol grip, and, with sadness in his eyes pointed the matte black barrel at his teacher and said "Sorry, Kuzuki-sensei."

"Don't be," Kuzuki whispered even as the gun went off with a bang, drowning out his last words, as he was shot.

The Thompson Contender was specifically meant to be used against magi when they were using their full power to block the shot. The powdered bone of Kiritsug, which contained his Origin of Severing and Binding; would then take effect and short circuit mages magic circuits. By severing them and tying them in a knot, causing rapid necrosis due to the destruction of the circuits.

However, Souichirou Kuzuki, during an extraordinary human, was not a magus and thus, had no magic circuits to short out. That isn't to say the Origin Bullet wasn't useful, however. As even though Kuzuki lacked magic Circuits the organ that was torn open by the bullet was rebound in a knot-like shape, preventing proper blood flow throughout his body. Because it was his lung that was shot, he couldn't breathe properly, and that combined with the amount of blood he was losing his legs finally took him out of the fight.

Shirou then tossed the spent Contender aside before looking back at Caster and saying "Tamamo, have you taken care of Medea?"

The pink haired fox-girl nodded bubbly as always and replied, "Yes Shirou she'll be out cold for a couple of hours and even after she wakes up she'll be terribly sick."

Shirou nodded before looking over at Kuzuki-sensei whose breathing was clearly labored and said "Listen to me Tamamo, I want you to see if you can do anything to help Kuzuki-sensei. I shot him with a nasty mystic code that warped the hole it put in his lung. After you've done all you can for him, I want you to move both him and Caster into some of the spare bedrooms." He finished as he stared down the street where Laura and that insane Servant still fought.

"What are you going to be doing while I'm doing that?" she asked already knowing the answer, but asking it regardless.

"I'm going after Laura." He replied before using Chrono Trigger to disappear from sight.

After he'd left, Tamamo made her way towards the gasping and the wounded man only to stop briefly when she noticed the traced gun on the ground. _'I bet part of you wishes Shiki hadn't picked it up for you out of Illya's mansion huh Shirou? At least then, you could've gone on pretending your father was a hero like you always thought he was.'_

* * *

Laura attacked Deadpool with a savage, animalistic fury, all the while screaming like a cornered angry beast. She slashed at him wildly with her hand and foot claws, but Deadpool for all his madness was still a master swordsman if one who fought erratically. Drawing his own adamantium forged katana's from his back, he proceeded to block and parry every attack she sent his way.

After deflecting a series of claw swipes the Servant with a Mouth couldn't help but comment "Sheesh Logan Jr, what's your problem, is it that time of the month again?"

Face flushed red, she attacked with even increased vigor, screaming "You know damn well why I'm pissed you son of a bitch, you burnt me and Daken alive! We watched you skin Beast after you killed him, you wore his pelt as some kind of messed up warrior garb as you fought Wolverine…I watched you kill the closest thing I had to a father even as I burned alive!"

Blocking a downward kick with crisscrossed katana, Deadpool sent Laura flying as he bent backward sending her tumbling over him. After which, he delivered an upside-down kick as if he were Beckham and she was just another soccer ball, slamming her into a wall and burying her under a pile of rubble.

As Laura pulled herself out from under the debris, the red-clad Merc began to lecture her. "You got the wrong Deadpool kiddo. I'm from Earth-616, the 'mainstream universe' damn hippies…" he muttered before continuing "Anyway the Deadpool you want to kill is from Earth-12101, the same universe you're from."

"I don't care! Killing you will just make me feel better!" she growled before she charged in again.

"Fair enough." He had said before he prepared to defend himself once again.

Laura materialized a small vial full of orange liquid, calling out its name before crushing it in her palm and deeply inhaling its scent.

**"****Trigger Scent!" **

Her muscles then bulged and her canines and fingernails lengthened, the pupils of her eyes became silted while her sclera turned red rimming her blue iris in black. She then let out a bestial unholy roar accompanied by a burst of prana. Spiderweb cracks appeared in the cement from the sheer pressure she was unleashing.

**"****WraaAAAAA!" **Laura then fell on all fours and her black hair almost completely covered her face, except for one luminous eye that glared hatefully at the Merc with a mouth from between strands of black hair.

**_'_****_Hunt prey…kill prey…kill…kill…KILL!' _**Laura thought.

Deadpool reached into his satchel and pulled out a raw steak saying "Good doggie, good doggie. Doggie want a steak, huh? Does doggie want a-" He tossed the steak in her face as she charged at him on all fours like a savage wolf, before reaching into his satchel again and pulling out a Nitro Express .700 and saying "Looks like it's time to put down Ole Yeller."

The Mad Saber took careful aim at the feral woman's' head before firing…and he managed to miss spectacularly at the moment he pulled the trigger, Laura ran along the wall using her hand and foot talons. Slashing a lamppost into a makeshift spear as she passed it, she kicked it towards the annoying prey she was facing, hoping to impale it if only to shut it up.

Deadpool dropped his elephant gun and flipped one of his katanas into the air with the flick of his foot. Grabbing it with both hands, he held the blade firmly in front of himself, cutting the makeshift missile clean in half. Just as he had cut through the last of the projectile apart, he was set upon by his maddened enemy.

She was a whirlwind of spinning claws. A sidekick towards his head, as well as a right hook and a straight jab, came his way at the same time. The only one he bothered to block was the jab, as if it had hit, it would've blinded him albeit temporarily. The other two strikes ended up gouging a hole in his neck and putting two diagonal slashes on his torso that went from his left hip to the right shoulder. Using his free hand, Deadpool grabbed the enraged feralette by her head and threw her a few feet away, before reaching into his satchel and pulling out a Mac-10.

"Since you don't want steak, maybe you could do with having a bit more lead in your diet! Who-sha!" He had hollered before he started spraying her with bullets. She ran right at him even as she was pelted with hot lead screaming like a banshee the entire time. When the clip was finally empty, he tossed the Mac-10 aside and then kicked the elephant gun in the air. Catching it with his free hand, he pointing the barrel directly in her face before saying "Open wide!"

He pulled the trigger and a second deafening boom was heard, this one accompanied by an explosion of blood, gore, and gray matter as Laura's head was blown into thousands of little pieces. Bits of her skull and brain flying a good distance down the street as a blood trail coated the ground behind her now headless and unmoving body.

Placing the elephant gun back in his satchel, he said, "Damn glad that's over. Maybe when she pulls herself back together, we can talk about this civil-like…Bwhahahaha! Who am I trying to kid right? Anyway, she got blood all over my fucking coat! And she tore it! Does she have any idea how hard it was for me to hunt down and kill this damn polar bear?! I swear some people are just so inconsiderate. Know what I mean kid?" He asked as he turned to see an extremely pissed off Shirou staring him down, carrying a shaking metal cat carrier.

"You…you killed her! You killed Laura!" he said as he stared at her headless corpse.

"Yeah, headshots with an elephant gun'll do that to ya. Who knew right? But she had it coming! She made me miss my program."

"What?" Shirou asked.

"Bea Arthur, I missed her show today 'cause of this shit," The Servant with a Mouth replied before adding "What's in that cage anyway? Is it a baby? I hope not, cause babies Gimmie the fucking creeps."

Stony faced, Shirou set the rattling cage on the ground before he said "This?"-He unlocked the cage door- "This is your doom!"

Out of the cage hopped a little white bunny rabbit, the size of a loaf of bread. Its nose was pink surrounded by several long whiskers, its ears were fluffy and long, and its eyes were blood red, making Deadpool think it was an albino rabbit.

This is why Deadpool could resist the jibe "What's he gonna do, eat me?"

Smirking evilly Shirou replied "Actually, yes."

Suddenly the bunny let out an ear-splitting screech, revealing a mouth full of sharpened fangs.

**"****Scree!" **the demon bunny said before launching itself at the servant in a blur of motion.

The first thing that went through Deadpool's often addled mind was _'What…the…fuck?'_

As the thing started chewing its way through the crotch of his pants and began to viciously gnaw on the organ within he started screaming in a high-pitched womanish voice "MY DICK…MY BALLS! AHHH!"

The Servant thrashed around on the ground trying to get the beast away from his God-given tools to no avail. Eventually, it ate its way past his pelvis and into his body proper. As he lay there on he lay there on the ground, hemorrhaging blood from a rabbit-sized hole where his junk used to be, Shirou calmly approached.

As he stopped in front of the downed hooded Servant, Deadpool asked, "Wha-what the fuck was that thing and where did you get it?"

"That was my latest Mystic Code though I suppose he's closer to a familiar. See when I saw you and Laura fighting earlier, I knew I couldn't just rush in blindly. But I also didn't want to tear up a street and risk hurting Laura by using one of my earlier mystic codes. So, using a bit of magecraft I learned recently, I quickly combined a nearby source of vampire blood, with a rabbit I had in my possession and then let his new natural instincts take over."

"Don't tell me you injected him with the blood of the Princess of the White Moon?!"

All Shirou did was smile evilly in response.

Deadpool began to laugh and cough wetly before he said "Shirou, you are one crazy son of a bitch."

In response, Shirou frowned and replied "One my mother is no bitch. Two, this was for Laura, who you killed. And three, did you ever wonder what it felt like to be a victim of a xenomorph chest burster?"

Raising an eyebrow which for some reason showed up on his mask, Deadpool replied "No Wh-AAAAAH!"

Suddenly, Deadpool's chest heaved outwards once, twice, three times! On the fourth heave, the Dead Apostle bunny burst from his chest in a fountain of blood and gore with another audible screech, with what appeared to be a bit of his heart dangling from his jaws.

"Any last words?" Shirou asked the Servant as he stared at the bloodstained bunny that just burst from his chest cavity.

"Chesticles," Deadpool replied before his head lulled backward and he passed out.

Smiling briefly in satisfaction, Shirou then looked at the blood soaked Leporidae and said "Good work Bunnicula, go take five…I-I need a minute."

Bunnicula twitched his nose in response before hopping off down the road, leaving Shirou alone with two corpses. He promptly walked over to Laura's and said "I'm sorry Laura. I'm sorry I couldn't save you. I never even got to see your Dream Cycle so I have no idea what your life was like. I wish I wish I could've known you better or moved faster in time to save you. Then you wouldn't be here, like this." He said getting down on himself for being unable to save someone he knew deserved to be saved and likely would've welcomed rescue, had he been fast enough. He picked up her headless body and prepared to take her back to the house if only to mourn for her properly.

Then right before his eyes, a miracle happened. It started with her spinal cord, which sprouted from her stump of a neck like some macabre flower bud, the vertebrae grew and grew until a human skull sprouted from that. Then came the nerves and flesh. The eyes grew back into the eye sockets, and pale skin covered bloodied flesh as Laura screamed in pain.

"Aaargh! That freaking hurt! I can't believe he shot me in the face with an elephant gun."

Then she noticed she was being held in someone's arms looking up, she found Shirou looking at her dumbfounded.

"Shirou wha-"She didn't get to finish as she was suddenly hugged by her Master as hard as he could against his chest.

"Don't you ever scare me like that again you hear me, this is an order from your master understand?" he said in a stern sounding voice.

Due to never receiving much affection in her life, it took Laura a minute to figure out that Shirou was worried she had just died and this was his way of telling her to be more careful. _'He was concerned…that's…nice.'_

"I understand, Master. I'll do my best to not worry you in the future. I know I don't have the right, but can I make a request?"

"Sure." He replied in a much calmer tone now that he'd calm down.

"Can we say like this a little longer?" she asked snuggling into his chest tiredly.

Looking down ar her tired form he whispered "Sure."

"Awe, that's cute. I'd cry, but all my bodily fluids are leaking out of the holes in my chest and groin." A familiar and annoying voice said from behind Shirou.

Shirou stopped and glanced behind himself where Deadpool was struggling to move with a hole in his chest and groin even as they both began to heal.

"Still alive? I should have Bunnicula finish you off." He had said coolly before he motioned to the Dead Apostle Rabbit.

Whoa, whoa hang on a minute their padre. What if I told you I had information? The information you couldn't get if you killed me?" he said as he glanced at the approaching red-eyed bunny with fear in his mask's eyeholes.

Shirou signaled for Bunnicula to stop before saying "Go on."

"Your friend Sakura, she's gone coo-coo for cocoa puffs. She's full on Dark Lady now bro, and she's got an army backing her up." Deadpool finished.

Shirou's heart had turned to ice before he said quickly but with trepidation "Let's talk about this back at the house."

* * *

As Shirou entered the house still carrying Laura, he was met in his foyer by a pissed of White Moon Princess, who was glaring at him with narrowed eyes. Her arms crossed in front of her chest as she began **"Do you have any idea how many centuries I've spent trying to get my full power back? I just got it back a little over a month ago and then you go and steal my blood and inject it into a damn rabbit! What the hell were you thinking?!"**

By the time she was finished, gusts of wind were being generated from her form and the ground trembled as her eyes subconsciously flashed gold.

To Shirou's credit, he didn't hit his knees and beg for his life when faced with an annoyed True Ancestor. But he did wince when he learned she wasn't at her full strength to begin with. Putting Laura on her feet and turned back to the True Ancestor, he bowed at the waist before saying neutrally "I'm sorry, I was unaware you were not at full power."

He then straightened and continued "However Laura someone I consider a friend, was in danger. I knew I couldn't get involved they were moving even faster than I could hope to match. So I did the first craziest thing I could think of. That, I refuse to apologize for, because if I sat back and did nothing, chances are, Laura wouldn't be here right now."

**"****Is that right?"** Arcueid had said menacingly before she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were ruby red and she finished, "If you had given any other answer and if you didn't have those particular set of Pure Eyes, I would've killed you where you stood. Come on, the others are waiting for you, and most of them want answers."

Mentally sighing the white and red haired Magus thought _'Time to pay the piper.'_

The moment he walked into the living room he was met by his anxious mother who held him at arm's length while checking him for injuries and asking "Are you alright dear? Are you hurt, what were you thinking injecting vampire blood into a rabbit? I thought you were only going to fight from a distance or command your servants or something."

"Mom, mom, I'm all right, and I know how to handle myself you know that." He told her gently, trying to calm her down.

Agatha released a sigh, before saying "I know, I know, it's just that I worry is all. You've been gone so long, I don't want to lose you permanently because of some stupid high-stakes game."

The sound of someone clearing their throat promptly ruined the moment between the mother and son.

Agatha turned and glared menacingly at Admiral Makidera even as his own wife and daughter glared at him. Ignoring them, he stated calmly "I do believe we would all like to know what is going on? There was an honest to goodness Dragon outside that window not too long ago."

Shirou sat down along with his mother before giving Rin, causing her to scoff and say "Why the hell not, you've been telling everyone else."

Taking that as his queue he began "There is a lot about the world you don't know. There is a whole secret world you know nothing about. My and Illya's Old Man called it the Twilight World…"

And so began an hour long explanation, but while good men talked, black tidings rallied against them…

* * *

Sakura, her children, and Angmar had taken up residence in the Matou House now that Zouken and Shinji were disposed of. The first thing Sakura did upon returning home was liquefy all of the remaining Crest of Worms, increasing her own reserves by a marginal amount. The group was currently gathered in the catacombs beneath the Matou household, which doubled as both the family workshop, and Sakura's former torture chamber.

**"****Why are we waiting mistress? Why not just go after the Emiya boy now?"** Angmar asked.

"Patience my Black Captain, all in good time. Nearly all the pieces are in place, I just need my first Rider back and then we can proceed." Sakura said before letting out a manic childish giggle.

**"****Why wait, we have the King of Heroes, the Hound of Ireland, your children, and myself. So why do we need her?" **Angmar questioned.

"In truth we don't actually need her. However, Once I killed Shinji and after I birthed Bea Bae she should have returned to my side as the Book of False Attendant should have been destroyed."

"But that didn't happen…which means someone else must currently have the book and be acting as Rider's Pseudo-Master."

Correct, and until we know what kind of person has my Rider we wait. For now send out your fellow Rider's and take the other two with you as well and see if you can find my other Servant would you?"

"It shall be done," Angmar said nodding to the girl who smiled madly at him before he turned to the corner of the crypt where his two new subordinates sat waiting. Both were clad in black, gray, and red armor. Gilgamesh was covered head to toe in a black miasma in the shape of armor, a hawkish helm covered his head from which his crimson eyes glowed wrathfully within. A red vein pulsed in the center of his chest from where the armor was cut away so he could be brought under control with his Morgul blade. It also had the added effect of turning him into little more than a destructive obedient beast, which suited Angmar just fine as he could do without his mouth.

Cu Chulainn had also changed much but not due to the Morgul blade. It seems that having his very sense of identity erased by Saraswati Meltout coupled with being stabbed by his Noble Phantasm gave the identity lacking and purposeless Servant a new purpose…to serve him utterly until his dying breath. In being changed by the Morgul Blade, he had also become more bloodthirsty more akin to the primal wolf than its domesticated brethren.

Leaning against the wall casually with Gáe Bolg behind his shoulders clad in black and red trimmed armor. Upon his Captains approach, he kicked off the wall and planted his spear in the ground next to him before grinning wolfishly and saying **"We finally gonna get to kill something now sir? All this waiting around is making my wrist twitchy."**

**"****As it just so happens, we have been given a mission by the Mistress to go forth and reclaim a lost ally who has been taken by an unknown enemy,"** Angmar told his subordinate.

**"****Search and rescue huh…and when we find the guy keeping her prisoner?"** he asked smiling maliciously.

**"****We only need her, not anyone else with her. Before you go, take some of my associates' with you. Lord of the Nazgul!"**

Eight other cloaked figures materialized behind Angmar in V formation, with him at its head. Turning to his fellow Nazgul he kept things brief. **"We need to find a fellow Servant of my Mistress. We shall be spreading out into three groups. Khamul, take the Knight of Umbar and ****Dwimmerlaik, and go search Shinto and take Chulainn with you."** He ordered, causing the Easterling to nod in response.

Angmar then pointed to another Nazgul and continued "**Black Marshal, you, the Shadow, Undying, and Betrayer are to go to Mion. Be discreet, as many enemies linger there. The rest of you are coming with me to check the Temple. That includes you King of Heroes."** The fallen King of Heroes groaned in response but gave no other sign he understood.

**"****Your only objective is to either retrieve or destroy a book some fool has in their possession by any means necessary. Do not fail or the punishment will be severe. Now go!"** he ordered.

His fellow Ringwraith's and one subordinate disappeared leaving him with three of his own men. Turning to them he said, **"Come, we have a fool to find."** He then swept out of the crypt, leaving the other four in his wake. He had no idea how true his words were.

* * *

Mitsudori Ayako could most certainly say she'd had an odd week. It stopped being normal after she told Shinji that if he didn't stop bullying the first year students in the archery dojo she'd talk to Taiga-sensei about him. Next thing she knew she was waking up in a cheap motel. The mattress was lumpy, an old half broken fan slowly rotated overhead. Mitsudori didn't notice any of this at first as she covered her eyes and groaned as a beam of sunlight hit her directly in the face.**k** Both waking her up, disorienting, and blinding her all at once.

She sat up, causing the bed beneath her to audibly creek. Groaning in discomfort, Mitsudori rubbed her eyes while saying "What did I do last night?"

She never expected an answer "Well, it's not so much what choo did lass, but what was dun ta ya."

Her head snapped up at the sound of the voice, and for the first time, she noticed she wasn't actually in her room at home, but in some unknown motel room and she had no idea how she got there. But even more than all that, she wasn't alone. Sitting at a desk in a rickety looking swivel chair that had a leather jacket with a patch of a lawn gnome throwing devil horns thrown over the back, was an older man with his greyed hair in a Mohawk, faded jeans, and combat boots with a pair of aviator shades on his face despite the darkness of the room. He had a Grizzly Adams beard covering his face.

"W-Who are you? Where am I?" she asked nervously. She may be tough, downright tomboyish, but she was still a girl. So when she woke up in a strange room with an even stranger older man, she wondered if she'd lost something she couldn't get back.

"You are in me rented hotel room lass. As ta who ah am…He then struck a pose, standing on the chair with one foot with his jacket slung over one shoulder as she finished "Ah'm Ole Man Henderson Tryggvassen Genteel'man Adventur'er."

Not knowing how to react to his introduction she just said, "I'm Mitsuzuri Ayako…uh, Tryggvassen-san, I hope this doesn't come off as insulting but-" She was cut off by Henderson, who said " Jus' call me Henderson lass. Ah, ain't one fer all dat formal crap, excuse me French."

Nodding Ayako amended herself continuing "Right, ok Mr. Henderson. We didn't uh, what I mean to say is last night did you and I…?" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"We didn' fuck if that's what yer wonderin' lass. Ah did save yeh from some creep while yew were takin' a kip on the ground though. So after I knocked him on his arse, I took yew 'ere for some R&amp;R as it were."

Suddenly, it all came back to her. She was arguing with Shinji after bumping into him downtown. Then out of nowhere, this gorgeous woman appears and, after putting her in a vicelike grip, bit her neck and began sucking out her blood like a vampire.

Putting a hand fearfully to her throat in reflex, she turned to the old man and asked "What about that woman? And Shinji how did you deal with him?"

"Dat woman, she's an interesting one she is." He replied while reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a thick black leather covered book. Shaking it for emphasis he continued "That punk, Shinji you call em? He had this book on him in his shirt pocket. Turns out, that woman has ta listen ta whoever holds the book wit'out question."

Ayako's mouth fell open in disbelief. What he'd just told her couldn't be true! No one could be completely controlled by a book, right? Something like that only existed in fictional books about magic.

Crossing her arms, Ayako challenged, "Prove it."

The old man smirked and replied "You don' take all yer told at face value. Dat's good, it means you can look through all the bullshit an see the bigger picture. As fer proof, I can't right now 'cause Rider as she calls herself is out grabbing breakfast for the three of us. While we wait, why don' ya call yer folks? I couldn't 'cause I'm not that good with Japanese."

Ayako's eyes had widened before she searched her pockets for her cell phone only to find Henderson handing her both the phone and battery separately. Seeing the odd look the girl was giving him, he shrugged and said "The Muckle damned thing was ringing and dinging off the hook so ah took da battery out for some peace and quiet."

Rolling her eyes, Ayako popped the battery back in and turned her phone on. She immediately noticed she had several missed calls from her Kaa-san, Tou-san, and even some from her brother. She had twice the amount of texts. From what she could piece together from them the school had been destroyed by a freak tornado and her family was worried about her. Taking a deep breath, she dialed her mother's cell phone number.

It didn't even ring once before it was answered and her mother started yelling into the phone, causing Ayako to hold the phone at arm's length so as not to go deaf. After her mother had calmed down, she spoke into the phone, saying "Yeah mom, I'm fine really. I got mugged while window shopping, but some nice foreign guy helped me after I got knocked out. He's here yes…what's He like? He's…"

Ayako looked at Henderson for a moment before saying "He's eccentric."

Whatever her mother said next caused Ayako to blush and yell into the phone "Kaa-san, he's old enough to be my grandfather!" A pause before "Your married! That is not just semantics and age is not just a number Kaa-san!"

Ayako sighed before saying "Tell Tou-san and Minori that I'll be home after I repay my debt to the old man. Love you too, bye."

Snapping her phone shut, she turned back to the old timer, who was now sitting casually in the swivel chair and said "Look, I owe you one. So if there's anything you need help with, any reason why you're in town?"

"Funny yew should mention dat lass. See, me great nephew Charlie done stole me antique Lawn Gnome collection, so Ah'm here ta find him and me collection."

Ayako blinked before shaking her head and saying "You're kidding, right?"

The old man shook his head and replied "Nope, each one was a hand painted porcelain Taiwanese lawn gnome, it was my retirement plan after I retired from the lad 'o' the night business."

Ayako blushed as she pieced together what he said "I-I see." She muttered out.

"I see you've informed the girl about your colorful past, master." A sensual voice said.

Moments later a woman voluptuous woman with lilac colored hair that was so long it reached the floor appeared, she was wearing a skimpy black dress and visor that covered her eyes. In her hands were several plastic bags that, from the smell were full of food.

Ayako suddenly froze up as if she were a rabbit being hypnotized by a snake. For her part, Medusa slowly swayed her way towards the frightened high-schooler, a smirk on her lips as she dropped the bags on the bed.

As she stalked closer to Ayako Medusa whispered "Well now, it seems you're awake. Good, I was afraid I had drained you dry. That would've been a shame…" Leaning in close to the girls' ear the Servant of the Steed whispered "Because you tasted delicious."

Ayako 'eeped', red faced as Rider continued "In fact, I wouldn't mind **_tasting_** you again, though perhaps not in the same way as before…no, this time I think I'll taste you in a way we can **_both_** enjoy, oh yes…" Rider all but purred into Ayako's ear.

Suddenly the tension in the room was broken by the sound of fluttering. Both servant and high school girl turned to see the old man they had both forgotten about throwing Euros in their direction. Seeing the look the younger of the two was giving him he shrugged and said "Wat, this is jus' a com'mon curtesy when women put on a show for a guy after all."

"Y-You are s-such an ass!" Ayako said before she dived across the bed for the bags full of food, partly to get away from Rider, and partly because she hadn't eaten since lunch at school the other day.

After she and Henderson had eaten, and Rider finished the tea she'd gotten herself, the trio got down to the business of finding Henderson's 'Muckle darmed Gnome stealin' great nephew!' as Henderson dubbed him. After throwing away their collective trash, Ayako sat down on the bed as far away from Rider as she could before she asked "Ok so what exactly does this nephew of yours look like?"

Rubbing his grizzly Addams beard in thought for a moment, Henderson replied "Well, let's see…He should be 'bout yer age,'as red 'air an height he git's from me side of the family, hazel eyes and narrow features he git's from 'is modder. He should be real smart-like, a common trait in both our families. Well, ring any bells lass?"

Only one person fit the description Henderson was giving her. _'But that can't be right, he isn't a thief.' _She thought, and told him as much.

"I know only one person who fits the physical description you gave me, but I just can't see him as the type to steal anything from anyone."

Raising an eyebrow from behind his sunglasses, Henderson asked "Oh rilly now? An why may Ah ask, do ya think dat, eh?"

Crossing her arms in front of her chest, Ayako replied "Because I go to school with him, and I used to be in the archery club with him and I can tell you he is the most helpful person on the planet. To the point of being stupidly self-sacrificing. No, there's no way this is the person who stole your lawn gnome collection. He doesn't have a cruel bone in his body or malicious thought in his head." She said assuredly.

"Wat's 'is name lass?" Henderson asked.

"It's Emiya, Emiya Shirou. But I'm telling you, it can't be him!" She protested again.

Standing up and dusting himself off, Henderson replied "Yew let me be da judge of dat, ya hear? Before we go an 'chat' wit dis Emiya kid, we need to go git some supplies."

"Supplies?" Ayako asked in confusion.

* * *

It turns out 'getting supplies' in Old Man Henderson's mind consisted going down to Shinto and beating the shit out of a pot dealer in broad daylight while interrogating him about lawn gnomes, before stealing not only his all of his product, but also his car, gun, and for some reason Ayako couldn't understand, his pants.

After that, Ayako was parked outside a liquor store in said stolen car thinking _'My life is over. I'm in a stolen vehicle full of drugs that we stole from a yazuka-'_

She suddenly heard shots firing from inside the establishment before Henderson came out carrying several cases of sake under one arm and his stolen pistol in the other before she added _'Now I'm an accomplice in robbing a liquor store!'_

As the crazy old man tossed the pilfered drink in the middle seat with her before jumping into shotgun and yelling at Rider to "Hit it lass! Apparently dis shite don't tink euros are worth wiping his arse wit!"

Rider stepped on the gas, a wicked smile on her face. Sure this-what did the girl call it? A Honda S2000? - was fast, nowhere near as fast as he Pegasus of course, but it had the advantage of being inconspicuous, whereas her Pegasus would destroy the surroundings just by existing. With her riding skill at A+, she could handle it easily without issue.

As she drifted around the corner, she couldn't help but notice the girl, Ayako's heart was pounding in her chest. Medusa could smell the fear coming off of her. While a part of her found the scent of fear amusing she truly didn't want to scare the girl, so after she turned the next corner she slowed down to more acceptable levels, as much as she wanted to speed.

"T-thanks." Ayako told her shakily.

"Good idea gal, we're prolly far enough away from that ole bastard now. No need to draw suspicion yeah?"

Ayako turned to him and started yelling "What the hell were you thinking? Not only did you rob a yazuka, but then a liquor store! What does this have to do with finding your damned lawn gnomes?!"

Henderson had just finished rolling up a blunt the size of a Cuban cigar he lit it using the lighter provided in the car before taking a hit and blowing it out, saying "Ya need ta relax lass. Ah done told ya we needed supplies firs' didn't Ah? Want a hit?" he asked offering her the blunt.

"No thanks." She said turning away from him sulkily.

Giving her a playful nudge in the shoulder Henderson said "Eh now, don' be dat. After all, if your life's as bad as yew tink it is right now, yew may as well go all da way huh?"

'I'm an accomplice in two robberies, Grand Theft Auto, am in possession of pot and alcohol…fuck me, he's right. It really can't get much worse for me!'

"Well when you've hit rock bottom…" She said as she reached for the blunt.

"No'were ta go but up." Henderson said before popping open a jug of sake and taking a swig.

* * *

Minutes, hours, or days could have passed by the time Ayako awakened from her sake and pot induced state. When she finally came to, she found herself passed out in the motel room from earlier, tangled up naked in the sheets with Rider!

**"****EH!" **

"Shush…" Rider said while putting a finger to her lips and pointing to the other bed, where Henderson lay spread eagled, passed out drunk, and snoring like a chainsaw.

Just barely managing to calm herself down Ayako whispered "D-Did we?"

Medusa smiled sexily before nodding, and purring "Oh yes, and I was right. It was **_so_** much more pleasurable for the both of us this time around."

Ayako couldn't believe it…it was kind of funny in a way, she and Rin would always say they would get a boyfriend before the other, and here Ayako had already had sex, probably lost her virginity, and it wasn't even to a boy!

She couldn't help but laugh quietly so as not to wake the old man, she'd always wanted a boyfriend, but at the same time, always wanted to remain single as long as possible.

_'__Maybe this is a sign.'_ She thought, before she turned to Rider and asked "Umm, was I any good? I'm only asking because I'd never done anything like that before, with a girl or a boy for that matter."

Smirking, Medusa gave Ayako a kiss in the brow and said "You were inexperienced, but eager. You just need more…**_practice_**…" she finished hungrily.

"Yew too can go at it like les'bian rabbits later. Ri' now we got to finish gettin' our supplies ta'git'er."

Making sure she covered herself in the sheets, Ayako asked dryly "Great, what's next? Are we going to rob the nearby airbase?"

"Funny yew should bring dat up lass." Henderson said as he rolled himself a blunt.

Throwing her hands up in defeat, Ayako replied "Sure, why not just add theft from a government faciliry to the list while we're at it?"

"Dat's da spirit! Hit?" Henderson coughed out as he took a hit from his blunt.

Taking a hit before passing it to Rider she said "if we're going to do this we're going to do it right, understand? I don't feel like going to jail for the rest of my life just because I decided to hang out with some looney old man who saved my life."

"A'corse lass, A'corse. Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

"There is no way in hell this is going to work." Ayako muttered to herself as she and Rider walked their way towards the guarded gate that lead into the Misawa Air Base, which seemed to be manned by a single bored individual. He hadn't noticed them yet due to the fact his face was stuck in a magazine.

"Just watch, you'll be surprised I'm sure." Rider replied as she sauntered up to the booth sexily.

Upon reaching the booth, she leaned over the counter and cleared her throat, causing the 'guard' to jerk up suddenly. When he saw who had disturbed him, his mouth fell open in shock. It didn't even register that she was a civilian and that she was on a private road, so entranced he was by her beauty.

Smiling at him cutely, Rider said "Sorry to bother you officer, but I'm afraid me and my friends car broke down." Rider pointed to Ayako who waved kindly at him before she continued "Do you think you could help us out?"

The soldier straighten and blushing, stuttered "I-I'm sorry, but I'm not a-allowed to leave my p-post m-miss."

Pouting Rider continued "Surely you can spare just a minute or two? I can't tell how **_grateful_** my friend and I would be for your help."

Swallowing as his eyes bulged along with something else, the soldier replied "R-Really? Well h-how can I say no to people in need? It's why I joined the air service after all."

The poor fool followed Rider and Ayako back to their 'broken down' car where, after he started looking under the hood, Henderson came out of the brush and hit him over the head with a wrench before dragging him into the bushes.

Minutes later, he came back out wearing a slightly too tight Air Force Uniform. It was the M-90 khaki colored uniform, that had a single breasted tunic that had a stand and fall collar, had five buttons which ran down the front. He had on long trousers along with puttees and tapes. On his feet was a pair of = horsehide ankle-boots.

Ayako took one look at him and burst into a fit of giggles, causing Henderson to scowl and say "Its nah funny! Its nah funny damn it! Me boys 'er bein' crushed in dis too short pair 'a pants."

This only caused the highschooler to laugh all the louder.

"Kids dez days ain't got no respect fer da sufferin' of dere elders." He said before he marched towards the now unmanned gate Rider and a still chuckling Ayako in tow.

As they passed the gate Henderson whispered "Now member dah plan lass, if anyone asks, I'm showin' the missus and you my teenage daughter who doesn't wanna be 'ere around da air force base."

"Yeah, sure, but what happens when that plan inevitably fails?" she asked.

"Wat makes yew tink it's gonna fail lass?" Henderson asked as they made their way casually.

Ayako shrugged and said "Oh I dunno maybe it's because-"

She was cut off when someone yelled **"HALT!"**

"You're clearly not Japanese." She finished dryly as they were surrounded by men with guns.

"Right, plan B den, Rider yer up!" Henderson said jovially.

A smirk appeared on her lips as Rider replied "As you say, Master."

Rider then moved like greased lightning and the men surrounding them collapsed like marionettes' that had just had their strings cut, except for the last one which she caught by the shoulders before she dug her fangs into his artery, drinking deeply before dropping him and licking the access blood off her lips.

"I would suggest we hurry, more will be here soon." Rider said after she was done.

"Right, dis way ladies." Henderson said leading them to what Ayako knew was the armory.

When she asked him how he knew it was the armory he replied as he kicked in the door, "Only other place that would have dat many guards around it would be da hangars for da planes."

Inside were metal shelves filled to the ceiling with ammunition, on the walls sitting in iron cages were various weapons. From a 7cm Mountain Gun, to a Type 94 37mm Anti-Tank gun, several Type 92 "Daitai Ho" 70mm infantry support guns, a plethora of Howitzers, and lots and lots of rifles and pistols.

Picking up a couple of duffle bags, Ayako looked at Henderson sideways and said "Take everything that isn't nailed down?"

"Now yer gettin' it lass!" he said cheerfully before picking up a few duffle bags himself and filling one with corresponding guns and ammo, and the other with grenades and mines. Ayako did the same, but she focused mainly on pistols and ammo for the guns Henderson picked up.

After a few minutes a voice could be heard shouting at them from outside through a megaphone in Japanese, as well as the sound of rotator blades signifying the approach of a helicopter. The voice on the megaphone said "Attention! We have you surrounded, come out now with your hands-AHHHH!"

"What just happened?" Ayako asked fearfully as she heard the man's screams.

"Rider happened. 'Member when yew asked me whether she had ta do what Ah told her, well after she went an got our ride, she saved ar' butts. Take a look." He prompted.

Looking out the window, Ayaka's jaw dropped when she saw the armory was surrounded by statues of soldiers, some of them screaming in fear.

Pale-faced she looked back at Henderson and asked "How?"

"Ah don' rightly know lass. Dat's sumthin' yew'll haf'ta ask Rider 'erself when your under da sheets wit 'er later ah s'pose."

Giving him a dirty look, Ayako kicked open then starred for a moment at the helicopter Rider was flying. She wasn't positive, but she thought it was one of those new SH-60J attack helicopters. It was pitch black, had pods full of what she assumed were hellfire missiles, twin machine guns on either side of it, two different types of torpedo's and depth charges.

She was pulled out of her reverie when she was nudged from behind by Henderson who said "Stop gawkin' and git ta walkin' lass!"

"Right." She said before jumping in the back of the helicopter, connecting her duffles to latches inside, she and Henderson snapped themselves into harnesses and put on headsets as Rider took off in the stolen vehicle.

Once they were several thousand feet in the air and speeding away, Henderson, blunt in his mouth asked "Now, where does dis Emiya live x'actly?"

* * *

**Chapter Length: 12,128 words – Date Completed: 3/31/15**

* * *

**AN: Hey everybody, it is I Bubbajack, and I am back with another chapter of Spark of Madcraft. I have several things I need to talk about today so I apologize in advance for the long AN. That said, let's get down to it!**

**Item #1: We broke 100 reviews last chap! wait to blow my mind people! New short term goal: 200 reviews by chapter 20! Let's Do it!**

**Item#2: a couple of people have accused me of not liking Sakura very much/ not portraying her properly since I decided to use Dark Sakura in this fic. Now I'm sorry but that is just laughably wrong. I would like to point several things that show I'm going rather easy on her even compared to canon.**

**I didn't have her (as the Shadow) kill hundreds of innocent people like she does in canon. Either way you choose to slice it, the Shadow is still Sakura, which ended up eating people alive for energy. And Zouken had next to zero control over the damn thing, in fact he was trying to limit causalities. **

**In her own Route, she's portrayed more as a secondary or possibly primary antagonist than as the 'heroine' of HF route. Seeing as she could've become dangerous enough to need the Counter Force to intervene to stop her.****Kotomine never warranted such.**

**Even her own creators mock her 'tragic heroine' role in Carnival Phantasm, I mean c'mon when even her creators are mocking her, it's like, is what I'm doing here really matter?**

**This is more a question than anything else. In HF True End, Shirou gets a new body, Sakura keeps Rider and him in existence, and Rin goes to the Clocktower right? Well, then who the hell does damage control for all the people Sakura killed during HF?! Kotomine's dead, so he can't do it, I doubt Rin can Mass Hypnotize the entire town to forget five hundred plus people just up and vanished without a trace. Does the Clocktower take her in or what? It seems odd that she kills hundreds and doesn't pay for it in any way whatsoever. She gets the boy she likes, and gets to act like she never killed hundreds of people which doesn't sit well with me.**

**Don't get me wrong though! Still don't hate her character, I just feel she should've been made to answer for all those deaths somehow. For the last time, I don't hate her character personally nor am I doing the '****humiliation conga' on her as one person said.**

**Item #3: CHARACTER SHEETS! YAY! Another double feature for you guys. Today we have Altria and Deadpool himself. **

**First Altria:**

**Class Saber**

**Identity:**** Altria Pendragon**

**Secondary Classes:**** Rider/Lancer**

**Parameters:**

**Strength: A Mana: A**

**Endurance: B Luck: A+**

**Agility: B NP: A**

**Class Skills:**

**Magic Resistance: A**

**Riding: B**

**Personal Skills:**

**Charisma: B**

**Instinct: A**

**Prana Burst: A**

**Military Tactics: B**

**NPs:**

**Caliburn- Golden sword of the Victorious (A) Anti-army: The sword from the stone of Arthurian legend, and Altria's original weapon. This blade was kept in Lily's possession as she never broke the rules of chivalry and obtained Excalibur or Avalon. However as it was meant more for ornamentation then actual combat it is several ranks lower than Excalibur and is only an anti-army NP. Since it was the weapon used to give Altria her Dragon Attributes, if used against a Dragon of any rank it will be destroyed.**

**Rhongomyniad- The Spear that Slays Beasts (B, B+) Anti-barrier, Anti-beast: A weapon that originally belonged to Altria's father Uther, thanks to Merlin's magical enhancements she put the spear to better use than he ever did. After being heavily enchanted by Merlin this formerly simple boar hunting spear became a spear that could easily swat aside or more often crush opposing weapons and fortifications, but its most famous feat was the hunting and slaying of Phantasmal Beasts most notably the Cat-Beast Cath Pulg, the Divine Boar Twrch Trwyth, a giant, the dog-headed ****cynocephaly****, and even a dragon. These traits have been imposed on the weapon, now an NP as Anti-Barrier and Anti-Phantasmal Beast weapon. Though it can be used while on foot, Altria often utilized Rhongomyniad along with her trusted stallion Hengroen which if she were summoned as Rider would be her primary NP, but as Saber is merely an extremely fast white stallion. Its rank is increased to B+ upon being used while mounted.**

**Carnwennan- Little White Hilt (B) Anti-unit, Anti Thaumaturgy: A seemingly dagger that was given to Altria upon passing her trials of knighthood in the guise of a man by Merlin and subsequently used to kill a black witch. Meant as a last line of defense, this weapon once thrown seeks out an opponent and strikes with the force of a missile six times before magically returning to its sheathe. It can also subsequently break and absorb the ambient prana from any mystery that is B-rank or below nullifying it, making it very cost effective.**

**Next Deadpool himself:**

**Servant: Saber**

**Name: Deadpool Alignment: Chaotic Neutral**

**Parameters:**

**Strength: D Mana: E-**

**End: A Luck: D**

**Agility: A NP: D-A++**

**Class Skills:**

**Magic Resistance: C**

**Personal Skills:**

**Subterfuge: (A): 60% of enemy forces can be disabled before the enemy is engaged.**

**Mental pollution: (A): Servant is incapable of being effected by mental magecraft, and is for all intents and purposes' insane and unpredictable.**

**Military Tactics: (C): User can effectively coordinate plans of attack with like-minded individuals.**

**Eternal Arms Mastership: (A+): prevents degradation of fighting skills when under the effect of mental hindrance. **

**NP's:**

**Healing Factor: (A+) - Allows Saber to heal from any wound short of total disintegration.**

**Teleporter belt: (C) Support: Allows Saber to teleport from one place to another at will x times a day where x is his mana rank.**

**Magic Satchel: (B) Support: Lets Saber pull out any number of objects from the satchel per day equal to x where x is his Strength attribute.**

**Breaking the Fourth: (D) anti-world (Self): Allows Assassin to know what is going to happen before it does as he knows he's a comic book/fan fiction character. Acts like A+++-rank in both Instinct and Clairvoyance. **

**Deadpool Corpse: (A++) Anti-army: Summons the Deadpool Corpse members Kidpool, Ladypool, Dogpool, and Headpool each with E-rank independent action and various tools.**

**Adamantium Katana's: (B+): Japanese style swords made out of the nigh indestructible metal adamantium which allows them to damage B-rank or below NP's and fight on par with A-rank or above Np's and deflect B-rank or above mysteries.**

**Ok now onto Item#4: The magecraft/familiar shirou showed this chapter. First the 'familiar'**

**Bunnicula: Bane of Phallus's**

**Rank: A+++ Anti- Unit, "Anti-anatomy" Range: 1-500 Max # of Targets: 1-500**

**Lore: A mystical beast created through Shirou's magecraft. Utilizing his Spark, a white bunny rabbit, and a syringe of Arcueid's blood, Shirou has managed to create a rabbit based Dead Apostle who is loyal to him as his familiar. Although it has all the abilities of a Dead Apostle ancestor, due to being a rabbit with a penchant for eating carrots, coupled with its new need for blood, it only attacks male victims… As his mouth is full of fangs he can literally chew through his opponents', usually choosing to start from the groin and work his way up into the chest cavity before bursting out of it.**

**Bunnicula has incredibly fast speed, he is quite possibly the fastest Dead Apostle ever, as, Arcueid has never come across an ancestor as fast as he was. His speed, coupled with his small size makes him almost impossible to hit even for the likes of Servants.**

**Next: Chrono Trigger**

**Rank: D-A+ Type: Anti-unit (Self) Range: 0 Max # of Targets: Self**

**Lore: Chrono Trigger is the result of Aoko attempting to teach Shirou Kiritsugu's Innate Time Control, which he couldn't inherit as he was not blood related to the man. He uses this magecraft by chanting the aria "Chrono Trigger 'x' Fire" where x is how fast he intends to go. ****It starts out at D-rank for Double Speed, costing twenty extra prana per level all the way up to A+ for six times the increase in normal speed, which, when combined with his reinforcement, would allow him to move at anywhere from ten to thirty-five times normal speed, above that of an C-ranked Servant in terms of Physical Attributes for fifteen second bursts.**

**Okay, that should just about do it. I'll finish up by saying you should review for more RiderxAyako, review for more Old Man Henderson and epic fights, but most importantly, review because it's my birthday tomorrow and reviews make awesome presents in my opinion. Till next time everyone, Bubbajack out Peace!**


End file.
